Study on Tensile Properties of Fly Ash, Sugarcane Fiber and Carbon Nanotube-Reinforced Polymer Matrix Composite Using Objective Evolutionary Algorithm.

Composite materials have a wide range of applications in emerging eco-friendly environments. Composites that created from naturally available materials are easily decomposed over time and very cost-effective. Fly ash and sugarcane fiber are widely available waste materials produced on a massive scale. This research was aimed to find an optimal mixture of reinforced composites (fly ash, sugarcane fiber and CNTs) in order to maximize yield strength, ultimate tensile strength and Young's modulus using a Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithm with Decomposition (MOEA/D). Optimizing one objective may have a negative impact on another objective, so the authors used the sophisticated MOEA/D algorithm to simultaneously find optimal values on all three objectives. The Design of Experiments (DOE) method was performed using ANOVA, and then regression equations were generated. The regression equations were optimized using the MOEA/D algorithm to obtain optimal values. Using the optimal compositional values produced by the algorithm, materials were fabricated. The fabricated materials were tested using a Shimadzu UTM machine to cross-validate the findings. A combination of 0.2 wt.% of fly ash, 2 wt.% of SCF, and 0.39 wt.% of CNTs showed a maximum yield strength of 7.52 MPa and Young's modulus of 1281.18 MPa, with a quite considerable ultimate tensile strength of 10.54 MPa compared with the optimized results obtained through the response surface methodology.

Investigation on Elastic Constants of Microfibril Reinforced Poly Vinyl Chloride Composites Using Impulsive Excitation of Vibration.

The creation of tenable green composites is in high demand, due to ecologically available resources paving the way for applications to thrive in the manufacturing, aerospace, structural, and maritime industries. Hence, it is vital to understand the performance characteristics of natural fiber-reinforced polymer composites. The elastic constants of coir fiber powder-reinforced plasticized polyvinyl chloride composite are determined using impulsive excitation vibration in this study. The optimization study on the elastic constants was carried out using Box-Behnken experimental design, based on response surface methodology, having three factors of fiber content (wt.%), fiber size (µm) and chemical treatments. The results were evaluated using analysis of variance and regression analysis. Additionally, experimental and optimized results were compared, leading to error analysis. Young's modulus of 18.2 MPa and shear modulus of 6.6 MPa were obtained for a combination of fiber content (2 wt%), fiber size (225 µm), and triethoxy (ethyl) silane treatment, which is suitable for various electrical, automotive, etc., applications.