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Ethiopian Bamboo Fiber Aging Process and Reinforcement: Advancing Mechanical Properties of Bamboo Fiber-Epoxy Composites for Automobile Applications

journal contribution
posted on 2024-11-03, 10:46 authored by Yalew Dessalegn, Balkeshwar Singh, Barisso Safayo, Mohammed Jameel, Nazia Hossain, Ahmad Rashedi, Gulam Ahmed
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the properties of Ethiopian bamboo fibre polymer composites as headliners in the automobile industry. Bamboo fibres are developed using the roll milling technique, and bamboo fibre epoxy composites (BFEPCS) are developed using a compression mould and a hot press machine. The mechanical properties are measured based on the recommended procedure of the ASTM. In total, 40% of the volume fraction of fibres is used to produce polymer composites. An accurate evaluation of its mechanical properties is thus critical for predicting its behaviour during a vehicle’s interior impact assessment. Conventional headliner materials are heavier, non-biodegradable, expensive, and non-sustainable during processing compared to the currently researched materials. Three representatives of bamboo plants are harvested in three regions of bamboo species, three groups of ages, and two harvesting months. Two-year-old bamboo fibres have the highest mechanical properties of all ages, and November has a higher mechanical properties compared to February. Inji-bara and Kom-bolcha have the highest and lowest mechanical properties, respectively. BFEPCs have high mechanical properties compared to BFPPCs. The mechanical properties of the current research findings have higher measured values compared to Jute felt PU, CFPU, GFMPU, BFPP, BFEP, PP foam, and TPU. The flexural strength of BFPCs has higher properties compared to their tensile strength. Ethiopian bamboo fibres and their polymer composites have the best mechanical properties for the composite industry, which is used for headliner materials in the automobile industry, compared to conventional headliner materials.

History

Journal

Journal of Composites Science

Volume

7

Number

375

Issue

9

Start page

1

End page

1

Total pages

1

Publisher

MDPI

Place published

Switzerland

Language

English

Copyright

© © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license

Former Identifier

2006126064

Esploro creation date

2023-10-19

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