Tensile and Flexural Behaviour of Areca Husk Fibre Reinforced Epoxy Composite

Nowadays, because of the issues related to the environment, it is becoming mandatory for the usage of eco-friendly products for betterment of the people. Hence, here is an attempt made where the harmful synthetic fibre composites used for marine, automobile, constructive applications can be replaced by eco-friendly, biodegradable natural areca fibre composites. Physical properties of areca husk fibre were studied, and it revealed that maximum fibres have length range from 40 to 50 mm with the diameter ranging from 0.200 to 0.299 mm. These untreated and 1% NaOH treated fibres were used for composite fabrication at different fibre loadings like 45, 50, 55, 60, and 65%. It was found that 50% is the optimum fibre percentage. Tensile strength and flexural strength for untreated fibre composite at 50% fibre loading were found to be 7.40 N/mm2 and 4.01 N/mm2, respectively, and 54.91 N/mm2 and 6.81 N/mm2, respectively, for alkali-treated fibre composites.