Natural Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composite for Automotive Application

This research study discusses development of a new set of natural fiber based polymer composites consisting of coir and jutefibers as reinforcement with epoxy resin for automotive applications.The newly developed composites are characterized with respect to their mechanical (tensile, compression, flexural and impact strength)and physical characteristics (water absorption and density measurements).The syntheses of volume fraction of fiber and thickness of composite were analyzedand properties correlation was performed using ANOVA for both composite i.e. CFREC and JFREC. According to single optimization JFREC (Jute Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Composite) has better mechanical and physical characteristics than CFREC (Coir Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Composite). Grey relational analysis (GRA) is used for determinethe optimal setting of process parameters for multiobjective characteristics of JFREC. Using the optimal combinations of jute/epoxy (JFREC) composites are used for fabrication of vehicle mudguard and mirror pocketdue to wide range of properties. Although these composites may be used in other automotive applications such as door panel, seatbacks, dash board, car roof, door handle.