TITLE:
Manufacturing and Product Analysis of Non-Woven and Paper Based Epoxy Composites
AUTHORS:
Vinay Kumar Kotike, Jens Schuster, Yousuf Pasha Shaik
KEYWORDS:
Recycled Fibers, Nonwovens and Papers, VARTM, Mechanical Properties, TOPSIS
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Composite Materials,
Vol.13 No.2,
April
24,
2023
ABSTRACT: Fiber-reinforced polymer composites are used in a wide variety of applications due to their many advantages, such as relatively low production costs, ease of fabrication, and superior strength compared to pure polymer resins. Polymer reinforcement can be either synthetic or natural. Synthetic fibers such as carbon have high specific strength, but their application fields are limited due to their high manufacturing cost. Recently, interest in recycled fiber-based composites has increased due to their many advantages. In this context, research has been carried out to better utilize non-woven and paper-based materials to make value-added products. The aim of the current research work is to compare the mechanical performance of non-woven and paper-based reinforced epoxy composites manufactured by the VARTM process. Mechanical properties such as tensile strength, flexural strength (using three-point bending), impact strength, hardness strength, and water absorption were measured. A multi-criteria decision approach called TOPSIS (The Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) was used to select the best alternative from the investigated materials.