Physico-chemical and Mechanical Characterization of Natural Fibre Reinforced Polymer Composites

Polymer biocomposites based on resorcinol-formaldehyde resin matrix, reinforced with pine needles were fabricated by compression moulding technique and further developed in our laboratory. Mechanical properties such as flexural strength, tensile strength, compressive strength and wear resistance of pine needlesreinforced phenolic resin matrix based composites were evaluated to assess the prospect of using the lignocellulosic fibres as a new environmental friendly material in engineering applications. The addition of pine needles into the polymeric matrix promotes a significant improvement in the composite properties. Effect of fibre dimension on mechanical properties was evaluated. It has been observed that polymer composites obtained by particle reinforcement exhibit better mechanical properties as compared to short and long fibre reinforcement. Morphological and thermal properties of the polymer matrix and fibre reinforced green composites have also been studied. In case of morphological features, the results clearly show that when polymer resin matrix is reinforced with fibres of different dimensions, morphological changes take place depending on the fibres dimension. In case of thermal behaviour, the results obtained clearly indicate that the presence of lignocellulosic pine needles affects the thermal stability of polymer matrix. The values of initial decomposition temperature and final decomposition temperature for polymer composite have been found to be in between those of matrix and the fibre which indicate that the composite is slightly less stable thermally as compared to resin matrix. These composites were further subjected to identical characterization tests such as swelling under different solvents, moisture absorption and chemical resistance analysis, etc. It has been observed that particle reinforced composites exhibit higher resistance to swelling, moisture absorption and chemical resistance behaviour.