Comparison of Mechanical Behavior for Cow- and Goat-Fiber-Reinforced Epoxy Composites

Abstract

These days’ researchers are fascinated to develop environment-friendly materials. Natural fiber composites are environment-friendly, renewable, and biodegradable materials. These organic composites have more advantages like low cost, lower density, and easily available in nature than inorganic fibers. Manufacturing of the natural fiber composite is easy compared to the conventional methods. Also, environmental awareness and growing concern with the greenhouse effect have initiated by various industries to pay attention to eco-friendly materials for replacing the hazardous materials. Epoxy-based composites are prepared by using animal fibers, and short fiber is obtained from the animals (goat and cow). These fibers are treated with the chemicals. Groundnut shells ash is used as the filler material. Mechanical properties such as impact strength, compressive strength, surface roughness, and hardness numbers are measured. It is found that interfacial bonding between the two phases enhances the mechanical behavior of the composites. Among all, C3 composites exhibit better mechanical behavior than other composites. The microstructure of the composites is observed by the scanning electron microscopy. It is exposed that incorporation of groundnut shells ash acts as filler material, which enhances the interfacial bonding inside the composite.