Abstract:
Nowadays, natural fibers as reinforcement for composites are gaining a lot of attention.
Ensete Ventricosum is one of the appropriate plants from which the natural fiber is
obtained. Three wheelers which are commonly known as Bajaj, are the major taxi
services in most of Ethiopian towns. The structural roof of this Vehicle is manufactured
from synthetic polystyrene cloth sheath which is easily bent, not robust enough and non-degradable after service time. So, the aim of this study was to characterize mechanical
and physical properties of Ensete Ventricosum fiber reinforced Polyester resin composite
material for three wheeler Bajaj vehicles roof. The fiber which is the byproduct of food
preparation process from ensete plant was collected from Hossaena town and treated by
5% NaOH solution for 4-hour duration for fiber‘s surface enhancement. Then, the five
distinct composite samples were manufactured from this treated fiber by using plain
woven, nonwoven bidirectional and mixture of plain woven and nonwoven bidirectional
type of fiber. Also, the fiber was oriented at different ply angle of orientations such as
and . The volume fraction of Ensete fiber to polyester resin used for
this study was 20%/80% and the hand layup technique of sample fabrication was utilized.
Finally, both mechanical performance such as tensile strength, flexural strength, impact
strength and water absorption of the five distinct samples were tested. The result of the
test revealed that the plain woven ensete ventricosum fiber reinforced polyester resin
composite sample with fiber angle of orientation at has the highest tensile
strength of 175.3 MPa and highest flexural strength of 336 MPa. And also, the optimum
water absorption was obtained as the Composite sample was fabricated from plain woven
oriented at . Generally, the three wheeler Bajaj roof was manufactured from
composite materials by using plain woven ensete fiber reinforced polyester resin that was
oriented at .
Keywords: Ensete fiber, Polyester, Bidirectional orientation, Mechanical properties,
water absorption