Abstract:
The main objective of this thesis work was to investigate the effects of bamboo fiber
surface treatment on the evaporative cooling pad performance and mechanical
properties. These naturally available bamboo fibers were tested using a wind tunnel
experimental test setup in a thermal laboratory shop. This study was done through the
development of cooling pad materials from different surface treatment chemicals of
bamboo fibers, evaluations of the developed cooling pad performance and
measurements of the maximum possible cooling performances. The effective surface
areas of the developed cooling pad materials were 26 by 26 cm
2
with a thickness of 8
mm,23 mm,20 mm,26 mm and 21 mm. Then the prepared cooling pad materials
performance was studied and improved the pad performance by adjusting and
varying the controlling parameters of the speed of fan and cooling pad material types.
From the result, it is observed that the best cooling performance was developed using
20Vol% treated bamboo fiber evaporative cooling pad materials. From the results,
the atmospheric temperature varies in the range of 22.2°C up to 38.6°C whereas, the
outlet cool air temperature varies in the range of 15.6°C up to 22.2°C.
And also to study the surface treatment effects of bamboo fibers reinforced polyester
resin composite materials were done by experimental test and numerical analysis
using Abaqus CAE software. Thus, the prepared bamboo fiber reinforced polyester
resin composites materials were untreated bamboo fiber, 10 Vol% treated bamboo
fiber (10TBF), 20 Vol% treated bamboo fiber (20TBF) using NaOH and 10 Vol%
treated bamboo fibers using NaOH plus corn starch soaked for 30 minutes. These
composites were manufactured by hand lay-up technique with a ratio of 30%:70%
bamboo fiber and polyester resin matrix respectively. The mechanical properties,
tensile test, flexural and DIC tensile test were done by using WAW 1000D hydraulic
universal tensile testing machine (UTM) at a strain rate of 1mm/minute. The results
obtained indicate that the use of a higher volume percentage of NaOH treatment
chemicals leads to uniform distribution of stress fields on the surface of materials. In
addition to that, the use of 10 Vol% NaOH plus corn starch soaking of bamboo fiber
gives improved elastic and elongation properties.
Keywords: Cooling Pad Materials, Fiber Surface Treatment, Evaporative Cooling,
Bamboo, Mechanical Properties, Natural Fibers, DIC Tensile Test, etc.