Project Team
Students
Jacob English
Mechanical Engineering
Penn State Berks
Faculty Mentors
Amir Barakati
Penn State Berks
Division of Engineering
Charles Bakis
Penn State University Park
Engineering Science and Mechanics
Project
https://sites.psu.edu/mcreu/files/formidable/2/Bamboo-Poster-v6-1.pdf
Project Video
Project Abstract
Effect of NaOH Treatment on Bamboo Biocomposites
Jacob English1, Charles Bakis2, Amir Barakati1
1Mechanical Engineering Division, Pennsylvania State University at Berks, Reading, PA, 19610, USA.
2212 Earth-Engineering Science Building, Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, Penn State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.
Biocomposites are gaining popularity in the composites industry due to their renewability and environmental impact. A biocomposite consists of a fiber or matrix that is plant-based. Many different plant fibers need to be explored to see their application in the industry as well as how they interact with matrix materials to find the best materials for desired applications. There has been some research done on bamboo for the use of composites but not many have studied the use of woven bamboo fabric; most focus on the use of randomly oriented bamboo fibers. Bamboo fabric should be stronger than the randomly oriented bamboo fibers since there can be 50% of the fibers in the loading direction. The objectives of this investigation are to manufacture, and tensile test woven bamboo fiber reinforced bio-epoxy composites made with different fiber pre-treatments and tested with different environmental conditionings. The approach taken to create these composites used a Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding (VARTM) setup which uses vacuum bagging to apply pressure and draw resin through the fabric to allow for an even distribution of resin. Fibers were used in the as-received condition (unwashed) or washed with a 0.25 M solution of NaOH to improve the fiber/matrix bond. The differently prepared fabrics were infiltrated with a pine-based bio-epoxy named ONE/ONF to produce biocomposite plates. After curing and cutting the plates to make tensile specimens, half of the specimens were soaked in deionized water at 150 °F for 24 hours (wet) and half were tested as-is (unconditioned). The largest elastic modulus resulted from the unconditioned specimens with NaOH washed fabric (3.90±0.30 GPa). In the wet condition, the same material had a 69% reduction in modulus. For the NaOH washed fabric, the Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS) was 48.5 MPa, compared to the unwashed fabric whose maximum UTS was 38.5 MPa, showing washing with NaOH resulted in an increase of 20.7% in UTS. The second largest modulus came from the unconditioned specimens with unwashed fabric (3.80±0.20 GPa). An increase of about 4.00-6.20% in the modulus can be expected when treating the fabric with NaOH. A water absorption of 12.6% occurred for the specimens with unwashed fibers while an absorption of 13.3% occurred for the specimens with washed fibers. In conclusion, washing the bamboo fabric with NaOH improves the mechanical properties of the biocomposite.
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