Experimental Analysis of Indian Wild Almond Fruit Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composite

Abstract

Fibre-reinforced polymer composites have played a dominant role for a long time in a variety of applications for their high specific strength and modulus. Past studies show that only synthetic fibers such as glass, carbon, etc., have been used in fiber-reinforced plastics The present work describes the development and characterization of a new set of natural fiber based polyester composites consisting of wild almond fiber as reinforcement. Wild almond fruit fiber composites are developed and their mechanical properties are evaluated, at five different volume fractions. The tests were carried out and the results were presented. Experimental results showed tensile, impact strength properties of the composites are greatly influenced by the increasing percentage of reinforcement of the fiber and indicate wild almond fiber can be used as potential reinforcing material for many structural and non-structural applications formatting.

Introduction

The text discusses the development and study of natural fiber–reinforced composite materials, focusing on wild almond fruit fiber as reinforcement in polyester composites. Natural fibers have been used for centuries and are now valued for their environmental benefits, low cost, and economic importance, especially in developing countries. Compared to synthetic reinforcements, they offer sustainable alternatives with acceptable mechanical performance.

The study aims to analyze how varying fiber volume percentages affect the mechanical properties of composites, particularly tensile and impact strength. A review of literature highlights previous research on different natural fibers, fiber volume effects, hybrid composites, and the importance of fiber–matrix bonding.

A key problem identified is the poor compatibility between hydrophilic natural fibers and hydrophobic polymer matrices, which can reduce mechanical performance. To overcome this, alkaline surface treatment of fibers is used to improve adhesion.

The proposed methodology includes extracting wild almond fiber through decortication, chemically treating it with potassium hydroxide, fabricating polyester composites using the hand lay-up process, cutting specimens as per ASTM standards, and testing tensile and impact properties. Six composite samples with fiber contents ranging from 0% to 5% were prepared.

The results section introduces tensile testing based on ASTM D638 standards, emphasizing the evaluation of ultimate tensile strength and elongation behavior, laying the foundation for analyzing the influence of fiber content on composite performance.

Conclusion

The following results obtained for the project work are listed below 1) With the results obtained from the experimental procedure, the following conclusions are observed. 2) As the fibre percent increases the tensile strength increases. 3) The ultimate tensile strength of polyester composite increases with fiber because of 4) formation of proper adhesion between fiber and matrix due proper surface treatment of fibre. 5) Wild almond fibre gives better mechanical properties.

References

[1] Muralidharan. (2017) , “Experimental Investigations of Mechanical Properties of Natural Hybrid Fiber, Reinforced Polymer Composite Materials”, Journal for Research Vol. 3, pp. 6-11 [2] P N E Naveen, M Yasaswi. (2013), “EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF COIR-FIBER REINFORCED POLYMER COMPOSITE MATERIALS”, National library of medicene Vol. 7, pp. 1287-1308. [3] Ronald W.Armstrong. (2011), “The Hardness and Strength Properties of WC-Co Composites”, international journal of mechanical engineering and robotics research Vol. 2, pp. 10-18 [4] C.V. Srinivasa (2011) , “Impact and Hardness Properties of Areca Fiber-Epoxy Reinforced Composites”, J. Mater. Environ. Sci., Vol. 4, pp. 351-356

Copyright

Copyright © 2025 T. Gopalarao , Ab. Firoze, Sk. Moulali . This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.