Abstract:
Emerging research is primarily concerned with environmental and economic challenges
associated with the development of new materials for future industries. Various industry
sectors have been attempting to replace synthetic fibers used as reinforcement in polymer
composites with natural fibers over the past few decades. Because of their favourable and
remarkable properties, composite materials have long provided a significant quantity of
research and industrial effort. Composite materials are made up of two materials that have
diverse physical and chemical characteristics. When they are joined, they generate a
substance that is specialized to fulfil a certain purpose. It consists of reinforcement phase
and matrix phase. Fiber reinforced polymers employ fiber as a reinforcement phase to offer
strength to the composite. Natural fibers are more environmentally friendly, renewable,
inexpensive, non-hazardous, nonabrasive, and widely available than synthetic fibers. In
this project, Hemp fiber is employed as the reinforcing phase while DGEBA epoxy is used
as the matrix phase. The Hemp Fiber Reinforced Polymer (HFRP) composites were
fabricated using Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Moulding (VARTM) method. The
mechanical properties of HFRP composites were tested by selecting two samples untreated
HFRP and Cryo-treated HFRP. Tensile test, Flexural test, Hardness test, water absorption
study along with analysis study also done. Ansys ACP prepost software used for the
validation. The study shows that the cryo-treated samples shows a better flexural strength,
hardness and less water absorption rate compared to untreated sample. But it shows less
tensile strength compared to untreated sample.
