Development and Testing of Bamboo-Fibres Reinforced Plastic Composites

Abstract

Many researchers in the past have developed composites with natural fibres such as of sisal, henequen, jute and palm; but the work on the bamboo-fibre reinforced com posites is not available in the literature published so far. In the present work, an effort has been made to develop bamboo-fibre reinforced plastic (BFRP) composites using a simple casting technique. These composites have been tested for tensile strength, impact strength and Young's modulus of elasticity. It has been observed that these composites possess high strength and ductility and are useful for many structural applications. The ultimate tensile strength of some BFRP composites is more or less equal to the ultimate tensile strength of mild steel, while their density is approximately one eighth of the density of mild steel. The mechanical behaviour of these composites is similar to other commonly used composites such as Glass fibre reinforced plastics.