Mechanical and machinability study on discontinuously reinforced sisal fibre polyester composite laminates

Due to the advancement in the field of bio composites the role of plant fiber reinforced composites has increased over the last few years. Now, these materials are used for both serviceable and non-serviceable applications. The components to be manufactured by natural fiber reinforced composites can be created using simple manufacturing techniques. However, joining of these manufactured parts has been the major difficulty faced by manufacturers. Extensive research has been carried out in drilling of polymer matrix composites and metal matrix composites, however the studies on behavior of natural fiber reinforced composites are limited. Hence an attempt has been made to study the mechanical characterization, machinability and microstructural study of Discontinuously Reinforced Sisal Fiber Polyester (DRSFP) composite laminates. From the experimental results it is observed that Moisture absorption was 1.4% for 40 h' time period due to porosity content, the lumen and fiber matrix adhesion, at higher load frictional thrust increases and resulted in increased debonding and fracture, main effects plot for three body abrasive wear indicates the selection of less Load (4 kg) and less speed (100 rpm) results in the best combination to get minimum abrasive wear value, selection of Spindle speed (1500 rpm), Feed rate (10 mm min(-1)) and Point angle (90 degrees) resulted in the best combination to get better surface roughness and minimum delamination. From the SEM micrographs of the drilled hole of DRSFP composites it is observed that the hole drilled at point angle 118 degrees has severely damaged surface compared to point angle 90 degrees and 104 degrees due to more fiber pull-out, surface and subsurface cracks (radial direction), de-bonding of fiber-matrix.