Mercerization treatment parameter effect on coir fiber reinforced polymer matrix composite

Abstract

At the present time plastic majorly pollutes the environment. Lot of researchers are interested to minimize the environmental pollution by means of minimize or avoid plastic goods. Accordingly composite material is introduced and it is used instead of plastics goods like chairs, tables etc. The coir fibers are immersed in alkali solution due to increase the surface roughness of the coir fibers. The coir fibers are treated in different concentration of potassium hydroxide (KOH) with the various conditions of soaking period. Hand layup process is used to fabricate the composite. Then the mechanical properties are evaluated as per the standards of ASTM. The effect of KOH concentration and soaking time are deliberated based on evaluated values of mechanical properties to find out the optimum parameters of the composites.