Nasır MOHAMMED TAHIR, Adamu Umar ALHAJİ, Ibrahim ABDULLAHİ

OPTIMIZATION OF THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF STERCULIASETIGERADELILE FIBRE EPOXY COMPOSITE USING TAGUCHI METHODOLOGY

SterculiaSetigeraDelile fibres potential has not been explored as a means to improve the mechanical properties of Epoxy Matrix. The study focuses on the optimization of factors affecting the mechanical properties (Tensile, flexural and compression) of SterculiaSetigeraDelile fibre Epoxy composite. The factors include Hot Alkaline treatment, fibre placed at angular orientation (0, 30, 45 and 90) degree and fibre percentage (5, 10, 15, and 20%). Taguchi method was used for the design of experiment and the results were analyzed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The result showed that fibre angular orientation was the most significant factor with a p-value of 0.000. The optimized fibre reinforced composite improved the tensile strength of the Epoxy by 72%, while it improved the flexural strength of the Epoxy only material by 89% and the compression strength was improved by only 6% due to the fact that the matrix plays a major role in compression strength. Thermogravimetric analysis of the Hot Alkaline treated 10% fibre of the optimized composite as compared to the Epoxy only composite showed that the addition of fibres improved the thermal stability of the epoxy composite. The material produced is of low density and could be explored for applications in the aerospace industry.

Keywords:

SterculiaSetigeraDelile fibre, Taguchi method fibre angular orientation, ANOVA, fibre percentage,

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