Experimental Investigation of Mechanical and Thermal properties of sisal fibre reinforced composite and effect of SiC filler material

With a view of exploring the potential use of natural recourses, we made an attempt to fabricate sisal fibre polymer composites by hand lay-up method. Natural fiber composites are renewable, cheap and biodegradable. Their easy availability, lower density, higher specific properties, lower cost, satisfactory mechanical and thermal properties, non-corrosive nature, makes them an attractive ecological alternative to glass, carbon or other man-made synthetic fibers. In this work, the effect of SiC on mechanical and thermal properties of natural sisal fiber composites are investigated. The composite has been made with and without SiC incorporating natural sisal fiber with polyester as bonding material. The experimental outcomes exhibited that the tensile strength of composite with 10% SiC 2.53 times greater than that of composite without SiC. The impact strength of composite with 10% SiC is 1.73 times greater than that of composite without SiC plain polyester. Thermal properties studied include thermal conductivity, specific heat capacity, thermal diffusivity, thermal degradation and stability. Three different samples with 0%, 5%, 10% SiC powder are considered. With the addition of SiC filler powder, thermal conductivity increases, specific heat capacity gradually increases then decreases, thermal diffusivity increases and thermal stability improves with Sic powder.