International Conference on Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering and Interdisciplinary Developments [ICRAMID - 2014]

Effect of Lamina Fiber Orientation on Tensile and

Free Vibration (By Impluse Hammer Technique)
Properties of Coconut Sheath / Sansevieria
Cylindrica Hybrid Composites
C.Bennet1, N. Rajini2, A. Venkatesh3, S. Harinarayana4, G. Vinoth Kumar5
Center for Composite Materials,
Department Of Mechanical Engineering,
Kalasalingam University
Srivilliputtur, Tamilnadu, India
1benutha24@rediffmail.com, 2rajiniklu@gmail.com
3venkatananaj@gmail.com, 4harinarayanansankaran@gmail.com
5vinoth9142@gmail.com

J. Winowlin Jappes
Center for Advanced Materials, Cape Institute of technology
Levengipuram, Tamilnadu, India
winowlin@yahoo.com
Abstract This work addresses the effect of intermediate lamina
orientation and chemical treatment of natural fiber reinforced hybrid
composites on tensile and free vibration properties. Two different
form of fibers such as Sansevieria cylindrica (SCF) in the form of
loosely separated and coconut sheath (CS) in the form of naturally
available woven mat have been chosen for hybrid reinforcement in
polyester matrix resin. The compression molding technique was
used to fabricate the composites with the help of specially designed
mold for fiber orientation. By keeping the overall weight percentage
of hybrid composites constant (40 wt %), the long fiber SCF was
sandwiched between two CS. The hybrid composites were
fabricated the with five different intermediate lamina orientation
(i.e, 0, 30, 45, 60 and 90) using SCF. The tensile strength and
free vibration properties were analyzed for all the fabricated
composites according to the ASTM standard and impulse hammer
technique.The change in orientation of intermediate lamina have
shown significant effect on both tensile and vibration properties.
The potassium permanganate (KMnO4) chemical treatment was also
carried out for the optimum oriented angle laminate. The chemical
treatment shows the siginificant enhancement in both the properties
compared to the untreated condition.

non confinement to uniformity and orientation leads to the

increase in fabrication lead time and skilled man power.
Indeed, lot of attempt has been made using natural
fibres as reinforcement with thermoset and thermoplastics
polymer resin. Saravana Bavan and Mohan Kumar [6]
describe the potential use of natural fiber composite materials
in India.As India is basically an agricultural country, the
availability of the nature fibers are much more than other
countries. Ashok Kumar et al. [7] found that the Sansevieria
cylindrica possess better mechanical properties among other
common natural fibers such as silk, jute etc. Singha et al. [8]
describes the various mechanical properties of natural fiber
reinforced polymer composites. Sreenivasan et al. [9] found
the material properties of randomly oriented short sansevieria
cylindrica fiber / polyester composites. Ashok kumar et al.
[10] found the material properties of randomly oriented short
sansevieria cylindrica fiber / epoxy composites regularly
increase till 40 wt% and then with increase in wt %, the
mechanical properties tend to decline. Sreenivasan et al. [11]
studied the influence of chemical treatment of fiber on
mechanical properties of short sansevieria cylindrica
composite and found that potassium permanganate treatment
gives better enhancement of mechanical properties of
composite.
At the same time the load bearing capacity of the
composites may be influenced depending upon the line of
action of the fiber orientaion [12]. Moreover, the orientation
studies [13,14]are very little in the field of hybrid composites
in particular using with two different form of natural fibers.
Hence, in this work the orientation of the loosely separated
intermediate lamina was attempted by fabrication of
sandwiched composites between coconut sheath. The
optimum fiber orientation was subjected to the KMnO4 for
surface modification to study the effect of treatment on
tensile and free vibration properties of hybrid composites.

Keywords Sansevieria cylindrica, Coconut sheath, Orientation,

Vibration, Impulse , pottassium permanganate.

I. INTRODUCTION
Any material which is produced manually to obtain
combined advantageous properties of more than one
particular material, in and as one material and also to omit
their disadvantages is called composite materials. Thus the
composite materials are one of the greatest areas in
producing some material of desired properties by their own.
Among the composite materials, natural fiber polymer
composite materials are now attracting research peoples,
manufactures and environmentalist due to its eco-friendly
nature of the natural fiber composite materials [1-5].
However, the fibre reinforced composites find its drawbacks
while using the natural fibre in polymer matrix. Owing to the
inherent weakness of the natural fibres like water absorption,

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International Conference on Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering and Interdisciplinary Developments [ICRAMID - 2014]

II.EXPERIMENTAL
IV. TENSILE PROPERTIES
Tensile test is conducted to find the tensile
strength of the fabricated composites in (Instron, Series3382) a UTM. The cross head speed of 5 mm/min is
maintained according to the ASTM D:638-10. The size of
the specimen is 200x20x3mm.
V. V IBRATION TESTING
The vibration test is done to find the damping ratio
and natural frequency of the composite. Impulse hammer
method was followed for finding ratio and frequency. The
one end of the specimen is fixed in the clamping block,
similar to a cantilever beam. The other end is to be free and
the sensor is fixed on the top of the specimen. Free vibration
method is followed. Three hits are made on the specimen, one
near to the clamping block, second hit is at the middle of the
specimen and the last is near to the sensor. The vibration
signals are monitored and the damping ratio and natural
frequency are calculated. The ASTM D 638 was followed for
this specimen. The size of the specimen is 200*13*3mm.
The line diagram of the free vibration testing set up is
shown Fig.2.
VI. FABRICATION OF HYBRID COMPOSITES
Hybrid composites are prepared by the compression
moulding technique. The coconut sheath are placed in the top
and bottom lamina, while the sansevieria is placed in the
middle lamina. The arrangement of fiber in three lamina's are
described in the Fig. 3(a-c) and the mould used for
fabrication are shown below.

A. Material Used
The sandwiched composite is made up of using
loosely seperated Sansevieria cylindrica fiber between two
coconut sheaths with unsaturated polyester resin [6]. Methyl
Ethyl Ketone Peroxide (MEKP) and Cobalt Naphthenate
were procured from M/s Vasivibala resins (P) Ltd, Chennai,
India have been selected as catalyst and accelerator.
Sansevieria cylindrica fiber is commonly known by the name
snake plant all over the world. In southern India, it is
commonly found by the name uruvanthandu which has
round greenish grey stripped leaves. The loosely seperated
sansevieria cylindrica fibre after extraction is shown in Fig
1(a). The sheath from the coconut tree can be easily
separated by peeling off from the trunk of the tree and then it
is dried well and the wood dust and impurities which are
present along with them are removed and it is used directly
after cutting in to required dimension since the sheath will
reproduced automatically, there will be no physical damage
to the tree. The coconut sheath fibre in the shape of mat is
shown in Fig. 1(b).
III. CHEMICAL TREATMENT
The chemical named potassium permanganate is
used for the treatment of fiber [9]. For each 100ml of water
0.5g of potassium permanganate is used. Prior to the KmnO4
treatment, NaOH alkali is used for the pre treatment of both
the fibers. For each 100ml of water, 40g of NaOH is used.
The treated fibers are dried for 1hr at 100 C in the hot air
woven. The treated fiber is then fabricated for the particular
orientation which has greater strength.

Fig. 2. Free Vibration Testing Setup

Fig. 1(a). Sansevieria cylindrica after extraction

Fig. 1(b). Coconut Sheath

Fig. 3 (a). Outer and interlamina fibre arrangement

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International Conference on Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering and Interdisciplinary Developments [ICRAMID - 2014]

the different mode it state that in mode 1 has the natural

frequency has 17.09 Hz at point 4 and in mode 2 and 3 the
natural frequency has 84.23 and 272.23 Hz respectively. In
the same way the lesser frequency exhibits in point 2 of all 3
modes with frequency value of 1.22, 17.09 & 84.23
respectively.
D. Free Vibration Test of Untreated Hybrid Composites
Free vibration testing was done for the specimens.
The different orientation such as 0, 30, 45, 60& 90 are
represented by the point no. 1 to 5 in the x-axis. By the
analyzing of the graph shown in the figure no. 8, 9& 10 are
state that the damping ratio at the point 2 that is 300
orientation has the greater value of 0.49, 0.3927& 0.0152 for
the node 1, 2 & 3 respectively. In mode 1 point 4 has got the
lowest damping ratio with the value of 0.2678. Table 2
shown the natural frequency of specimens. While in the
mode 2 shown in table 2 point 5 (i.e 900) has got the lesser
value of 0.023 and in the mode 3 that is in the Fig. 6 point 1
(ie 450) has got the lesser value of 0.01233. While analyzing
the natural frequency of the different mode it state that in
mode 1 has the natural frequency has 17.09 Hz at point 4 and
in mode 2 and 3 the natural frequency has 84.23 and 272.23
Hz respectively. In the same way the lesser frequency
exhibits in point 2 of all 3 modes with frequency value of
1.22, 17.09 & 84.23 respectively.

Fig. 3 (b). Mold used for interlamina orientation

VII. RESULT AND DISCUSSION

A. Tensile Properties of Untreated hybrid composites
The investigation of tensile strength of the various
specimen on different fiber orientations were done. The
various orientation's 0, 30, 45, 60, 90 degrees are symbolized
in the x-axis by the point number 1 to 5. The outcome of the
testing states that the point 1 that is the fiber orientation at 00
has got the supreme strength of 71.3 Mpa., when compared
to the other type of fiber orientation. The point 5 that is 900
fiber orientation has the least strength of 11.54 Mpa. While
studying the tensile testing in the 00 middle lamina fiber
orientation, it exhibit that the fiber in the middle lamina are
assembled parallel to the force applied. When the force
applied for this type, the force is carried by both the fiber and
the resins. This is the reason why that the hybrid composite
in the 00 orientation explore an higher strength. Meanwhile
analyzing the result of 900 degree middle lamina fiber
orientation, that the fiber's are assembled perpendicular to
the force applied.In this condition when the force is applied
to the hybrid composite, the force will act on the resins and
does not act much on the fiber. So the middle lamina fiber
orientation on 900 exhibit the lesser strength. The tensile
strength of different orientation are plotted in the graph given
in Fig.4(a).

Fig. 4 (a). Tensile properties of untreated SC/CS/polyester hybrid

composites Tensile strength

B. KMnO4 Treated Composites

The hybrid composite with treated fiber is fabricated
and the testing is done on the specimen and the results are
analyzed. The point 1 in the x-axis represent the un-treated
hybrid composites, while point 2 represent the treated hybrid
composites. As we analyze the tensile strength has been
reduced from 71.3 (Mpa) to 66.38 (Mpa) after the fiber
treatment. The strength has been declined by 7.5% after the
treatment of the fiber. The graph has been shown in the
Fig.5(a).
C. Free vibration Test of Untreated Hybrid Composites
Free vibration testing was done for the specimens.
The different orientation such as 0, 30, 45, 60& 90 are
represented by the point no. 1 to 5 in the x-axis. Analyzing
the graph shown in the figure no. 8, 9& 10 state that the
damping ratio at the point 2 that is 300 orientation has the
greater value of 0.49, 0.3927& 0.0152 for the node 1, 2 & 3
respectively. In mode 1 point 4 has got the lowest damping
ratio with the value of 0.2678. Table 2 shown the natural
frequency of specimens. While in the mode 2 shown in table
2 point 5 (i.e 900) has got the lesser value of 0.023 and in the
mode 3 that is in the Fig. 6 point 1 (ie 450) has got the lesser
value of 0.01233. While analyzing the natural frequency of

Fig. 4 (b). Tensile properties of untreated SC/CS/polyester hybrid

composites Tensile Modulus

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Table.II. Comparison of Natural Frequency and Damping ratio of untreated

and KMnO4 treated optimum composites

Orientation

Natural Frequency
Mode
Mode
Mode
1
2
3

Mode
1

Damping Ratio
Mode
2
Mode 3

Untreated

15.87

84.23

272.22

0.0769

0.0399

0.01233

Treated

26.86

84.23

272.83

0.456

0.0145

0.0045

VIII. CONCLUSION
Sansevieria Cylindrica and coconut sheath hybrid
composites are prepared by compression moulding
machine.The hybrid composites were subjected to tensile and
vibration analysis (damping ratio and natural frequency).It
was observed that enhanced tensile properties were observed
for 00 fibre orientation in case of untreated and treated
composites. The middle lamina fiber orientation at 900
exhibit the lesser strength. Vibration analysis were done for
treated composites with potassium permanganate solution
only for 00 fibre orientation as they showed higher tensile
properties than any other fibre orientations.Treated
composites exhibited higher natural frequency for all the
three modes of vibration. Damping ratio is higher for treated
composites for mode 1(the ratio has increased by 83% )
which proves to be advantageous one.

Fig. 5 (a). Tensile Properties of Untreated and KMnO4 treated hybrid

optimum composites Tensile strength

Fig. 5 (b). Tensile Properties of Untreated and KMnO4 treated hybrid

optimum composites Tensile Modulus

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors thank the centre for composite
materials, Kalasalingam university, Krishnankoil for
providing assistance to carry out this work.

Table I. Fundamental Natural frequencies and Damping of hybrid

composites at Different
Orientation (a) Mode - I (b) Mode II
(c) Mode III

Natural Frequency
Mode Mode Mode
1
2
3

Damping Ratio
Mode
Mode
1
2
Mode 3

0
30
45

15.87
1.22
8.55

84.23
17.09
46.5

272.22
84.23
84.23

0.0769
0.49
0.066

0.0399
0.3927
0.295

0.01233
0.0152
0.0499

60

17.09

80

93.4

0.2678

0.019

0.1027

90

15.87

76.9

84.23

0.0563

0.023

0.1065

Treated

26.86

84.23

272.83

0.456

0.0145

0.0045

Orientation

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E. KMnO4 Treated Composites

The treatment of fiber in done and fabrication of
fiber is done only for the 00 orientation, the reason is that the
orientation of 00 degree has the greater strength for all the
mechanical properties. In analyzing the result of the treated
hybrid composite with the untreated hybrid composite the
following are found. The Figures from 7a-c state the
damping ratio of the 3 different modes and the figure
numbered from 18 to 20 state the natural frequency in Hz of
the 3 different modes. On analyzing the damping ratio, the
ratio has increased by 83% from 0.0769 to 0.456 in the mode
1, while in the other modes the ratio has decreased to 63%.
In the case of natural frequency the mode shows the
increment in the value of 40% from 15.87 to 26.86 Hz. In
other two cases the frequency value remains the same.

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waste silk, jute and drumstick vegetable fiber (Moringa

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