The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

www.emeraldinsight.com/1573-6105.htm

Effect of fiber
Experimental study on effect of length and
fiber length and fiber content on fiber content

tensile and flexural properties of

bamboo fiber/epoxy composite 947

Giridharan R., Raatan V.S. and Jenarthanan M.P. Received 21 November 2018
Revised 8 March 2019
School of Mechanical Engineering, Accepted 15 April 2019
SASTRA Deemed to be University, Thanjavur, India

Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of fiber length and content on properties of E-glass
and bamboo fiber reinforced epoxy resin matrices. Experiments are carried out as per ASTM standards to find
the mechanical properties. Further, fractured surface of the specimen is subjected to morphological study.
Design/methodology/approach – Composite samples were prepared according to ASTM standards and
were subjected to tensile and flexural loads. The fractured surfaces of the specimens were examined directly
under scanning electron microscope.
Findings – From the experiment, it was found that the main factors that influence the properties of
composite are fiber length and content. The optimum fiber length and weight ratio are 15 mm and 16 percent,
respectively, for bamboo fiber/epoxy composite. Hence, the prediction of optimum fiber length and content
becomes important, so that composite can be prepared with best mechanical properties. The investigation
revealed the suitability of bamboo fiber as an effective reinforcement in epoxy matrix.
Practical implications – As bamboo fibers are biodegradable, recyclable, light weight and so on, their
applications are numerous. They are widely used in automotive components, aerospace parts, sporting goods
and building industry. With this scenario, the obtained result of bamboo fiber reinforced composites is not
ignorable and could be of potential use, since it leads to harnessing of available natural fibers and their
composites rather than synthetic fibers.
Originality/value – This work enlists the effect of fiber length and fiber content on tensile and flexural
properties of bamboo fiber/epoxy composite, which has not been attempted so far.
Keywords Epoxy resins, Bamboo, Fibre length, Weight percentage, Mechanical properties, Fractography
Paper type Technical paper

Introduction
In the recent days, polymers are used widely in our everyday lives. The requirement of lighter
materials without compromising the mechanical properties of their metallic counterparts
paved the way for plastics. The research in the field of polymer and polymer-based
components has gained a widespread recognition owing to its property; however, its path is
not unencumbered as the question of bio-degradability arises. Further, glass fiber reinforced
polymers (GFRP) have become appealing substitutes for aluminum, concrete and steel due to
their high strength-to-weight ratio, ease of handling, and anti-corrosive properties. Moreover,
they can also be engineered to obtain desired properties. Since large-scale production and
fabrication of glass fibers take a heavy toll on the environment and may prove to be lethal for
our health, a suitable eco-friendly alternative is desideratum. Natural fibers that are cheap,
light in weight and environmental friendly prove to be an excellent alternative to the glass
fiber. Among the natural fibers, bamboo fibers prove their eminence with their excellent
environmental adabtability and high tensile strength.
Multidiscipline Modeling in
Joshi et al. (2004) reviewed the life cycle assessment of natural fiber and glass fiber Materials and Structures
composite, and found that natural fibers are environmentally superior to glass fiber, and they Vol. 15 No. 5, 2019
pp. 947-957
also reduce the polymer content as reinforcement. Sapuan et al. (2006) prepared the composite © Emerald Publishing Limited
1573-6105
by reinforcing woven banana fibers with epoxy matrix. The tensile test result showed that the DOI 10.1108/MMMS-11-2018-0194
MMMS interlaced type of reinforcement has a better strength and the Anova technique also confirms it.
15,5 Venkateshwaran and Elayaperumal (2010) reviewed the various works in the field of banana
fiber reinforced with polymer matrix composite with reference to physical properties, structure
and application. Venkateshwaran et al. (2011) studied the effect of hybridization on mechanical
and water absorption properties. Investigation revealed that the addition of sisal in banana fiber
composite up to 50 percent enhances the mechanical properties. Sapuan et al. (2006) designed
948 and fabricated the household telephone stand using woven banana fabric and epoxy as resin.
Zainudin et al. (2009a) studied the thermal stability of banana pseudo-stem filled plasticised
polyvinyl chloride (UPVC) composites using thermogravimetric analysis. The study revealed
that due to the incorporation of banana filler, thermal stability of the composite has plummeted.
Shibata et al. (2005) studied the effects of the volume fraction and length on flexural properties of
kenaf and bagasse fiber-based composites. Harriette et al. (2006) investigated the mechanical
properties of flax/polypropylene composites. Huang and Sun (2007) studied the effect of water
absorption on the mechanical properties of glass/polyester composites. Ota et al. (2005) studied
on the combined effect of injection temperature and fiber content on the properties of
polypropylene-glass fiber composites. Giridharan (2019) prepared ramie/glass fiber reinforced
composites, hybridized them at two weight percentages and evaluated their properties, such as
tensile strength, flexural strength, impact strength and SEM fractography, and found that
hybrid fiber reinforced epoxy composite exhibited better mechanical properties than the
individual samples. Yuan et al. (2013) studied reinforcing effects of modified kevlar fiber on the
mechanical properties of wood flour/polypropylene composites, and observed that the addition
of kevlar fiber improved the mechanical properties of wood flour/polypropylene composites.
Chauhan et al. (2011) studied the effect of fiber loading on mechanical properties, friction and
wear behavior of vinyl ester composites under dry and water lubricated conditions. Jawaid et al.
(2013) studied the mechanical behavior of hybrid composites based on jute and oil palm fiber. It
has been found that the use of hybrid system was effective in increasing the tensile and
dynamic mechanical properties of the oil palm epoxy. Dixit and Verma (2012) reported a
remarkable improvement in the tensile and flexural properties of hybrid composites compared
to the un-hybrid counterparts. Ahmed and Vijayarangan, 2008) experimentally investigated the
effect of stacking sequence on mechanical properties of woven jute and glass fabric reinforced
polyester hybrid composites. Pandya et al. (2011) found that placing glass fabric layers in
the exterior and carbon fabric layers in the interior of the hybrid composites gives higher tensile
strength and ultimate tensile strain than hybrid composites with carbon fabric layers in
the exterior and glass fabric layers in the interior. Goud and Rao (2012) found a considerable
increase in the tensile, flexural, impact and hardness properties of Roystonearegia/glass fiber
hybrid composites with the increase in glass fiber loading. However, the dielectric constant and
electrical conductivity values dropped with the increase in glass fiber loading in the hybrid
composites at all frequencies. Pothan et al. (2010) studied the banana‒glass hybrid composites
and found a layering pattern, and that the geometry of the composites had a profound effect on
the dynamic behavior of the composites. Zhong et al. (2011) informed that the surface
microfibrillation of sisal fiber improves the compression strength, stability, tensile strength,
internal bonding strength and wear resistance of the sisal/aramid fiber hybrid composites.
Sanjeevamurthy and Srinivas (2012) studied the effect of moisture absorption on the mechanical
properties of the coconut coir and sisal fiber hybrid composites and compared them with the
composites with dry fibers. Venkateshwaran et al. (2011) reported that the incorporation of sisal
fiber in banana/epoxy composites up to 50 percent by weight results enhanced mechanical
properties and decreased moisture absorption property. Girisha et al. (2012) found that the
hybridized composite shows greater tensile strength compared to the composites with
individual type of natural fibers as reinforcement. Perremans et al. (2018) found that the tensile
stiffness of bamboo fiber reinforced epoxy composites is hardly influenced by the discontinuity
patterns. Khorshidi et al. (2013) reported that the selection of an optimal refinement condition to
attain maximum tensile properties of Al–15%Mg2Si is a multiple attribute decision-making Effect of fiber
problem. Satish et al. (2010) found that density of composites is influenced less by fiber length and
orientation. Wang and Chen (2017) asserted that the bamboo fiber and advanced bamboo fiber fiber content
reinforced composites (BFRC) have attracted the attention of many industries with their
morphology, mechanical property and environment adaptation. Vaghasia and Rachchh (2018)
found that the mechanical properties of woven bamboo glass polyester hybrid composite
material depend on the effect of variation in bamboo fiber percentage and polyester percentage. 949
Thakur et al. (2018) fabricated a new composite material using bamboo fiber reinforced in the
epoxy resin in which varying percentage of CNT is synthesized and the mechanical
characteristics of the same are evaluated. Khan et al. (2017) fabricated bamboo fiber reinforced
epoxy composite using 6 percent NaOH treated bamboo fibers, which showed maximum
ultimate tensile strength, and experimental and numerical study on fracture behavior of the
same was examined. Alam et al. (2010) found the less effect of fiber orientation on the density of
composites. Biswas Kindo Patnaik (2011) and Biswas, Deo, Patnaik and Satapathy (2011)
observed maximum hardness value of composites at 30° fiber orientation. Zainudin et al. (2009b)
investigated the effect of banana filler content on the UPVC matrix. The insertion of filler
increases the modulus of the composite and not the tensile and flexural strength. Zainudin et al.
(2009c) studied the effect of temperature on storage modulus and damping behavior of banana
fiber reinforced with UPVC. Dabade et al. (2006) investigated the effect of fiber length and
weight ratio on tensile properties of sun hemp and palmyra/polyester composite. The optimum
fiber length and weight ratio were 30 mm and around 55 percent, respectively. Biswas Kindo
Patnaik (2011) and Biswas, Deo, Patnaik and Satapathy (2011) studied the effect of length on
mechanical behavior of coir fiber reinforced epoxy composites and observed that the hardness is
decreasing with the increase in fiber length up to 20 mm.
In the recent decade, the idea of sustainable development and environment-friendly
initiatives have made their way to proper utilization of the available natural fibers and
have gained a widespread recognition. There are many potential natural fibers that our
mother nature has blessed us with. Among all, the one that rises above the crowd and has
marked its eminence is bamboo. Great efforts have been made by researchers
incorporating bamboo as a reinforcement fiber in polymer composites. Bamboo possesses
superior mechanical properties than other materials of its kind, but it is brittle in nature
due to extra lignin content. The key properties that make bamboo a standout substitute
than others are specific strength and economic value. It is also one of very few plants with
high growth rates. Bamboo fiber-based composites have good durability and dimensional
stability, and it can be engineered to any complex shape at a lower cost than the
conventional ones. Numerous works are carried out for understanding its mechanical
properties and the ways of harnessing these properties for practical applications. There
are many factors that are investigated in the present literature; among them, the effect of
fiber length (reinforcement length) is dominant on the mechanical properties of composites
such as GFRP, CFRP, etc. With the topical scenario, we try to investigate the role of fiber
length in mechanical properties, which contributes to the novelty of the paper.
Hence, in this work, the effect of fiber length and weight percentage on the mechanical
properties of the bamboo fiber epoxy composite is investigated. The bamboo fiber obtained
from bamboo plant is shown in Figures 1 and 2, and the various steps involved in the
fabrication of BFRC are clearly depicted in Figure 3. Also, the properties of bamboo are
listed in Table I. Further, the fractured surface of the composite is subjected to fractography
study to evaluate the fracture mechanism.

Experimental fabrication of composite

A molding box made of well-seasoned teak wood, with dimensions 300 × 300 × 3 mm3, is
used to make a composite specimen. The top and bottom surfaces of the mold and the walls
MMMS
15,5

950

Figure 1.
Bamboo plant

Figure 2.
Bamboo fiber

are coated with remover and kept for drying. Fibers of different lengths (5, 10, 15 and
20 mm) and weight percentages (8, 12, 16 and 20) are used along with Epoxy (LY556) and
Hardener (HY951) for the preparation of composite.

Testing standards
The tensile strength of the composite was determined using Shimadzu universal testing machine
(shown in Figure 4) as per ASTM D 3039 standard. The test speed was maintained at 5 mm/min.
In this case, five specimens were tested with varying fiber length and fiber weight ratio.
The average value of tensile load at fracture point was calculated. The flexural strength was
determined by conducting three-point bend tests (shown in Figure 5) on the specimen in UTM as
per ASTM D790 procedure. The test speed was maintained between 1.3 and 1.5 mm/min. In this
case, five samples were tested and the average flexural strength was reported. Figures 6‒9 show
the effect of fiber length and weight content on tensile and flexural properties.
The fractured surfaces of the specimens were examined directly under scanning electron
microscope. The fractured portions of the samples were cut and gold coated over the surface
uniformly for examination. The accelerating voltage applied was 10 kV. Figure 10 show the
fractured surface characteristics of the composite specimen.
 Effect of fiber
Material extraction
length and
Resource fiber content
Material processing
Bamboo
Recycle 951
Extraction with
a machining center

Manufacturing

Remanufacturing Bamboo fiber

Use
Reuse 10 mm Figure 3.
10 mm Hot press forming Steps involved in the
fabrication of bamboo
Disposal Binder-free bamboo with die
fiber reinforced
fiber composite composites

Fiber Density (kg/m3) Tensile strength (MPa) Young’s modulus (GPa) Elongation at break (%) Table I.
Properties of
Bamboo fiber 1,500 400 12.6 8 bamboo fibers

Figure 4.
Tensile test setup
Shimadzu universal
testing machine
MMMS
15,5

952

Figure 5.
Flexural test setup
Shimadzu universal
testing machine

16
5 mm
10 mm
14 15 mm
Tensile Strength (MPa)

20 mm
12

10

6
Figure 6.
Effect of fiber length
and weight percentage 4
8 10 12 14 16 18 20
on tensile strength
Fiber Weight (%)

Results and discussion

Mechanical properties
For the tensile test, composite specimens made of fibers of different lengths (5, 10, 15 and
20 mm) and weight ratios (8, 12, 16 and 20) were used to calculate the tensile strength.
Figures 6 and 7 show the effect of fiber length and weight ratios on tensile strength and
modulus of the composite, respectively. Figure 6 shows that the increase in fiber length
and weight ratio increases the tensile strength and modulus up to 15 mm fiber length and
12 percent weight ratio. A further increase led to the decrease in the desired properties
due to improper fiber–matrix adhesion and excess of the fiber content than the matrix.
Figures 6 and 7 show that the maximum tensile strength and modulus of the composite
are 14.2 MPa and 0.6 GPa, respectively, for the fiber length of 5 mm and 12 percent weight
ratio. Flexural strength and modulus for different fiber lengths (5, 10, 15 and
20 mm) and weight ratios (8, 12, 16 and 20) are shown in Figures 8 and 9, respectively.
 600 Effect of fiber
5 mm
10 mm length and
500 fiber content
Young’s Modulus (GPa)

15 mm
20 mm

400

300
953

200
Figure 7.
Effect of fiber length
100 and weight percentage
8 10 12 14 16 18 20
on tensile modulus
Fiber Weight (%)

45
5 mm
40 10 mm
15 mm
Flexural Stress (MPa)

35 20 mm

30

25

20

15 Figure 8.
Effect of fiber length
10 and weight percentage
8 10 12 14 16 18 20
on flexural strength
Fiber Weight (%)

8
5 mm
10 mm
Structural Modulus (GPa)

15 mm
6 20 mm

Figure 9.
Effect of fiber length
0 and weight percentage
8 10 12 14 16 18 20
on modulus
Fiber Weight (%)

It was found that the maximum flexural strength and modulus are 42.1 MPa and
7.46 GPa, respectively, for the fiber length of 15 mm and fiber weight of 16 percent.
It can be concluded that the optimum fiber length and fiber weight percentage are 15 mm
and 16 percent, respectively, as the variation of properties with 15 mm and 16 percent are
MMMS negligible when compared to the maximum mechanical properties provided by different
15,5 fiber lengths and weight percentages indicated above. Figure 10 shows the micrograph of
fractured surface of specimen under tensile load. It clearly indicates that the failure is due to
fiber pullout phenomenon. It clearly indicates that the clustering of fibers results in poor
interface with matrix, and in turn decreases the mechanical properties of the composite.

954 Conclusion
Bamboo is one of the fastest renewable plants with a maturity cycle of 3‒4 years, thus
making it a potential alternative instead of forest hardwoods. Bamboo offers a good
potential for processing it into composites as a substitute of solid wood for structural uses
such as bamboo composite-based flooring tiles. In this paper, the effect of fiber length and
weight percentage on tensile and flexural properties of bamboo reinforced with epoxy
composites has been thoroughly studied. Fractography was also carried out. Based on the
findings of this investigation, the following conclusions can be drawn:
• the optimum fiber length and weight ratio are 15 mm and 16 percent, respectively, for
bamboo fiber and epoxy composite; and
• SEM image shows that increasing the fiber content above 16 percent results in poor
interface between fiber and matrix.
Due to its high strength and high growth rate, bamboo fiber has many advantages compared
with glass fiber, which results in using bamboo fiber as a reinforced polymer composite
material. However, bamboo has some disadvantages like low impact strength, low hardness,
etc. Further research may be carried out to improve their impact strength and hardness such
as addition of carbon, heat treatment or electric treatment. Also, new ways of reducing the
fiber pullout, leading to a good fiber‒matrix adhesion, increasing the net strength 5 of
composites should be brought out. Bamboo fiber composites are used in automobile,
aerospace, sport, aerospace, boat and electronic industries, etc. It can be concluded that the
obtained result of BFRC is not ignorable and could be of potential use, as it leads to harnessing
of available natural fibers and their composites rather than synthetic fibers.

Figure 10.
SEM image of tensile- 200 m
EHT =15.00 kV Signal A = SE1 WD =18.5 mm
fractured specimen
Spot Size = 452
References Effect of fiber
Ahmed, K.S. and Vijayarangan, S. (2008), “Tensile, flexural and inter-laminar shear properties of length and
woven jute and jute-glass fabric reinforced polyester composites”, Journal of Materials fiber content
Processing Technology, Vol. 207 No. 1, pp. 330-335.
Alam, S., Habib, F., Irfan, M. and Iqwal, W. (2010), “Effect of orientation of glass fibre on mechanical
properties of GRP Composites”, Chemical Society of Pakistan, Vol. 32, pp. 265-269.
Biswas, S., Kindo, S. and Patnaik, A. (2011), “Effect of length on coir fibre reinforced epoxy 955
composites”, Fibre and Polymers, Vol. 12, pp. 73-78.
Biswas, S., Deo, B., Patnaik, A. and Satapathy, A. (2011), “Effect of fibre loading and orientation on
mechanical and erosion wear behaviors of glass–epoxy composites”, Polymer Composites,
Vol. 32 No. 4, pp. 665-674.
Chauhan, S.R., Gaur, B. and Dass, K. (2011), “Effect of fibre loading on mechanical properties, friction
and wear behaviour of vinylester composites under dry and water lubricated conditions”,
Inter Journal of Material Science, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 1-8.
Dabade, B.M., Ramachandra Reddy, G., Rajesham, S. and Udaya Kiran, C. (2006), “Effect of fiber length
and fiber weight ratio on tensile properties of sun hemp and palmyra fiber reinforced polyester
composites”, Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites, Vol. 25, pp. 1733-1738.
Dixit, S. and Verma, P. (2012), “The effect of hybridization on mechanical behaviour of coir/sisal/jute
fibres reinforced polyester composite materials”, Research Journal of Chemical Sciences, Vol. 2
No. 6, pp. 91-93.
Giridharan, R. (2019), “Preparation and property evaluation of Glass/Ramie fibers reinforced epoxy
hybrid composites”, Composites Part B: Engineering, Vol. 167, pp. 342-345, available at:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2018.12.049
Girisha, C., Sanjeevamurthy and Rangasrinivas, G. (2012), “Tensile properties of natural fibre-
reinforced epoxy-hybrid composites”, International Journal of Modern Engineering Research,
Vol. 2 No. 2, pp. 471-474.
Goud, G. and Rao, R. (2012), “Mechanical and electrical performance of Roystonea regia/glass
fibre reinforced epoxy hybrid composites”, Bulletin of Materials Science, Vol. 35 No. 4, pp. 595-599.
Harriette, L.B., Jorg, M. and Van den Oever, M.J.A. (2006), “Mechanical properties of short-flax-fibre
reinforced compounds”, Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, Vol. 37 No. 10,
pp. 1591-1604.
Huang, G. and Sun, H. (2007), “Effect of water absorption on the mechanical properties of glass/
polyester composites”, Materials and Design, Vol. 28, pp. 1647-1650.
Jawaid, M., Khalil, H.P.S.A., Hassan, A., Dungani, R. and Hadiyane, A. (2013), “Effect of jute fibre
loading on tensile and dynamic mechanical properties of oil palm epoxy composites”,
Composites Part B: Engineering, Vol. 45 No. 1, pp. 619-624.
Joshi, S.V., Drzal, L.T., Mohanty, A.K. and Arora, S. (2004), “Are natural fiber composites
environmentally superior to glass fiber reinforced composites”, Composite Part A: Applied
Science and Manufacturing, Vol. 35 No. 3, pp. 371-376.
Khan, Z., Yousif, B.F. and Islam, M. (2017), “Fracture behaviour of bamboo fiber reinforced epoxy
composites”, Composites Part B: Engineering, Vol. 116 No. 1, pp. 186-199.
Khorshidi, R., Hassani, A., HonarbakhshRauof, A. and Emamy, M. (2013), “Selection of an optimal
refinement condition to achieve maximum tensile properties of Al-15% Mg2Si composite based
on TOPSIS method”, Materials & Design, Vol. 46, pp. 442-450.
Ota, W.N., Amico, S.C. and Satyanarayana, K.G. (2005), “Studies on the combined effect of injection
temperature and fibre content on the properties of polypropylene-glass fibre composites”,
Composites Science and Technology, Vol. 65 No. 6, pp. 873-881.
Pandya, K.S., Veerraju, C. and Naik, N.K. (2011), “Hybrid composites made of carbon and glass woven
fabrics under quasi-static loading”, Materials & Design, Vol. 32 No. 7, pp. 4094-4099.
MMMS Perremans, D., Trujillo, E., Ivens, J. and Van Vuure, A.W. (2018), “Effect of discontinuities in bamboo
15,5 fibre reinforced epoxy composites”, Composites Science and Technology, pp. 50-57.
Pothan, L.A., George, C.N., John, M.J. and Thomas, S. (2010), “Dynamic mechanical and dielectric
behaviour of bamboo-glass hybrid fibre reinforced polyester composites”, Journal of Reinforced
Plastics and Composites, Vol. 29 No. 8, pp. 1131-1145.
Sanjeevamurthy, C.G. and Srinivas, G.R. (2012), “Sisal/coconut coir natural fibres – epoxy composites:
water absorption and mechanical properties”, International Journal of Engineering and
956 Innovative Technology, Vol. 2 No. 3, pp. 166-170.
Sapuan, S.M., Leenie, A., Harimi, M. and Beng, Y.K. (2006), “Mechanical property analysis of woven
bamboo/epoxy composite”, Materials & Design, Vol. 27, pp. 689-693.
Satish, K.G., Siddeswarappa, B. and Kaleemulla, K.M. (2010), “Characterization of in-plane mechanical
properties of laminated hybrid composites”, Journal of Minerals and Materials Characterization
and Engineering, Vol. 9 No. 2, pp. 105-114.
Shibata, S., Cao, Y. and Fukumoto, I. (2005), “Press forming of short natural-fibre reinforced
biodegradable resin: effects of fibre volume and length on flexural properties”, Polymer Testing,
Vol. 24 No. 8, pp. 1005-1011.
Thakur, A., Purohit, R., Rana, R.S. and Bandhu, D. (2018), “Characterization and evaluation of
mechanical behavior of epoxy-CNT-bamboo matrix hybrid composites”, Materials Today:
Proceedings, Vol. 5 No. 2, pp. 3971-3980.
Vaghasia, B. and Rachchh, B. (2018), “Evaluation of physical and mechanical properties of woven bamboo
glass polyester hybrid composite material”, Materials Today: Proceedings, Vol. 5 No. 2, pp. 7930-7936.
Venkateshwaran, N. and Elayaperumal, A. (2010), “Bamboo fiber reinforced polymer composite – a
review”, Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites, Vol. 29, pp. 2387-2396.
Venkateshwaran, N., ElayaPerumal, A., Alavudeen, A. and Thiruchitrambalam, M. (2011), “Mechanical
and water absorption behaviour of bamboo/sisal reinforced hybrid composites”, Materials &
Design, Vol. 32 No. 7, pp. 4017-4021.
Wang, G. and Chen, F. (2017), “Development of bamboo fiber-based composites”, Advanced High
Strength Natural Fibre Composites in Construction, pp. 235-255.
Yuan, F.P., Ou, R.X., Xie, Y.J. and Wang, Q.W. (2013), “Reinforcing effects of modified kevlar fibre on
the mechanical properties of wood-flour/polypropylene composites”, Journal of Forestry
Research, Vol. 24 No. 1, pp. 149-153.
Zainudin, E.S., Sapuan, S.M., Abdan, K. and Mohamad, M.T.M. (2009a), “Thermal degradation of
bamboo pseudo-stem fibre reinforced unplastisized polyvinyl chloride composites”, Materials &
Design, Vol. 30, pp. 557-562.
Zainudin, E.S., Sapuan, S.M., Abdan, K. and Mohamad, M.T.M. (2009b), “The mechanical performance
of bamboo pseudostem reinforced unplastisized polyvinyl chloride composites”, Polymer-
Plastics Technology and Engineering, Vol. 48, pp. 97-101.
Zainudin, E.S., Sapuan, S.M., Abdan, K. and Mohamad, M.T.M. (2009c), “Dynamic mechanical
behaviour of bamboo pseudo-stem filled unplasticized polyvinyl chloride composites”, Polymer
Composites, Vol. 17, pp. 55-62.
Zhong, L.X., Yu, F.S., Zhou, X.S. and Zhan, H.S. (2011), “Effect of surface micro-fibrillation of sisal fibre
on the mechanical properties of sisal/aramid fibre hybrid composites”, Composites Part A:
Applied Science and Manufacturing, Vol. 4 No. 3, pp. 244-252.

Further reading
Alix, S., Philippe, E., Bessadok, A., Lebrun, V., Morvan, V. and Marais, S. (2009), “Effect of chemical
treatments on water sorption and mechanical properties of flax fibres”, Bioresource Technology,
Vol. 100 No. 20, pp. 4742-4749.
Dhakal, H.N., Zhang, Z.Y. and Richardson, M.O.W. (2007), “Effect of water absorption on the
mechanical properties of hemp fibre reinforced unsaturated polyester composites”, Composites
Science and Technology, Vol. 67 Nos 7–8, pp. 1674-1683.
Harish, S., Peter Michael, D., Bensely, A., Mohan Lal, D. and Rajadurai, A. (2009), “Mechanical property Effect of fiber
evaluation of natural fiber coir composite”, Materials Characterization, Vol. 60 No. 1, pp. 44-49. length and
Houston, N. and Acosta, F. (2007), “Environmental effect of glass fiber reinforced polymers”,
Proceedings of 2007 Earth Quake Engineering Symposium for Young Researcher.
fiber content
Sapuan, S.M. and Maleque, M.A. (2005), “Design and fabrication of natural woven fabric reinforced
epoxy composite for household telephone stand”, Material & Design, Vol. 26 No. 1, pp. 65-71.
Velmurugan, R. and Manikandan, V. (2009), “Mechanical properties of palmyra/glass fiber hybrid 957
composite”, Composite Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, Vol. 38 No. 10, pp. 2216-2226.

Corresponding author
Jenarthanan M.P. can be contacted at: jenarthanan@mech.sastra.edu

For instructions on how to order reprints of this article, please visit our website:
www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/licensing/reprints.htm
Or contact us for further details: permissions@emeraldinsight.com
Reproduced with permission of copyright owner. Further
reproduction prohibited without permission.