Failure Studies on Adhesive Bonded and Bolted Joints of Natural Fiber Composites

Abstract

Composites with natural fibers as reinforcements are playing a vital role in recent developments. The present work deals with the fabrication of okra and empty fruit bunch banana fiber polyester matrix composites with varying reinforcement content (5%, 10%, and 15%). Composites were fabricated by using the hand layup technique. After the fabrication process, composites were then adhesively bonded and also joined with bolts. The main objective of this work is to analyse the failure studies on adhesive bonded and bolted joints of okra and empty fruit bunch banana composite specimens. The specimens were tested under tensile load, flexural creep studies, and SEM analysis. It has been observed that empty fruit bunch banana fiber composites exhibited better joint strength properties under tensile loading when compared to the okra fiber composites. To estimate the flexural creep behaviour, all the samples were tested at a constant load of 2.5kg and 5kg. The deflections obtained during regular time intervals (four months) were noted. The presence of internal defects and void content was observed by using the scanning electron microscope. The results showed that adhesive-bonded composites were exhibited less deflection compared to the bolted joints. The empty fruit banana fiber composites exhibited higher creep than okra fiber composites. Decreased creep with the increased fiber has been observed in both cases. SEM Adhesively bonded joints possessing better sustainability as compared to the bolted joints in both the fiber-reinforced composites.