Investigation of mechanical properties of environmentally friendly human hair fiber-reinforced polymer composite

Abstract

The use of natural fibers for reinforcing with polymers has grown in popularity over the last few decades. In addition to being lightweight and robust, natural fibers are also reasonably priced. An investigation was carried out in this research work to use human hair fiber, a natural fiber easily available in India. The current research focuses on developing of new class natural fiber-based polymer composites with human hair as reinforcement and vinyl ester as the matrix material. The composite was prepared using the land lay up technique with varied human fiber concentration of 5,10,15,20 & 25 wt %. The prepared composites were tested for their mechanical properties and chemical resistance and results were reported. A highest tensile strength of 56.3 MPa was achieved with 20 wt % of humar fiber content and maximum flexural and impact strength of 1.49 MPa and 37.1 J were attained with 15 wt % of human fiber reinforcement. In the view of chemical properties, among the various chemical solutions, Hydrochloric Acid shows the least weight loss at 0.42%. The SEM analysis shows the void formation, fiber break out, fiber pull out and crack propagation, specifying understandings into the human fiber/vinyl ester composites failure mechanisms.