Regression modeling and particle swarm optimization of mechanical properties of potassium hydroxide pretreated Dharbai fiber-reinforced polyester composites

Abstract

This paper aims at improving the mechanical properties of Dharbai fiber-reinforced polyester composites through surface modification of Dharbai fibers using potassium hydroxide alkali treatment. The fibers were subjected to alkali treatment as per full factorial design, and the composites were fabricated by reinforcing the treated fibers in polyester matrix. The response surface methodology was employed to study the effect of treatment parameters namely solution concentration (%) and soaking time (h) on the mechanical properties of Dharbai fiber-reinforced composites. The regression model was developed for correlating the interactions between solution concentrations and soaking time on the tensile, flexural, and impact strength of the composites. The results obtained confirmed that both solution concentration (%) and soaking time (h) play critical role in influencing the mechanical properties of Dharbai fiber-reinforced composites. The better treatment conditions for optimum mechanical properties were determined using heuristic optimization method called particle swarm optimization. The optimized value obtained using particle swarm optimization technique was validated using confirmation test, and the results were found to be significant.

Keywords

Alkali treatment Dharbai fiber polymer composites response surface methodology particle swarm optimization

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Harish

Peter Michael

Bensely

. Mechanical property evaluation of natural fiber coir composite. Mater Char 2009; 60: 44–49.

Satyanarayana

Pillai

CKS

Sukumaran

. Structure property studies of fibers from various parts of the coconut tree. J Mater Sci 1982; 17: 2453–2462.

Venkata Reddy

Venkata Naidu

Shobha Rani

. A study on hardness and flexural properties of kapok/sisal composites. J Reinf Plast Compos 2009; 28: 2035–2044.

Pothan

Thomas

Neelakantan

. Short banana fiber reinforced polyester composites: mechanical, failure and aging characteristics. J Reinf Plast Compos 2009; 16: 744–764.

Panthapulakkal

Sain

. Injection molded short hemp fiber/glass fiber-reinforced polypropylene hybridcomposites mechanical, water absorption and the thermal properties. J Appl Polym Sci 2007; 103: 2432–2441.

Murali Mohan Rao

Mohana Rao

. Extraction and tensile properties of natural fibers:Vakka, date and bamboo. Compos Struct 2007; 77: 288–295.

Gassan

Bledzki

. Possibilities for improving the mechanical properties of jute/epoxy composites by alkali treatment of fibres. Compos Sci Technol 1999; 59: 1303–1309.

Cao

Shibata

Fukumoto

. Mechanical properties of biodegradable composites reinforced with bagasse fibre before and after alkali treatments. Compos Part A: Appl Sci Manuf 2006; 37: 423–429.

Kalyanasundaram

Jayabal

. The effect of fiber treatment on the mechanical properties of Christmas palm fiber–polyester composites. Appl Mech Mater 2014; 467: 208–213.

10.

Jayabal

Natarajan

. Optimization of thrust force, torque, and tool wear in drilling of coir fiber-reinforced composites using Nelder–Mead and genetic algorithm methods. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 2010; 51: 371–381.

11.

Haftka

Vitali

Sankar

. Optimization of composite structures using response surface approximations. Mech Compos Mater Struct 1999; 361: 409–430.

12.

Shenoi

Jiang

. Multi-parameter optimization of lightweight composite triangular truss structure based on response surface methodology. Compos Struct 2013; 97: 107–116.

13.

Jayabal

Natarajan

Sekar

. Regression modeling and optimization of machinability behavior of glass-coir-polyester hybrid composite using factorial design methodology. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 2011; 55: 263–273.

14.

Jayabal

Natarajan

. Modeling and optimization of thrust force, torque and tool wear in drilling of coir fiber reinforced composites using response surface method. Int J Mach Machinability Mater 2011; 9: 149–172.

15.

Monteiro

Terrones

LAH

D’almeida

JRM

. Mechanical performance of coir fiber/polyester composites. Polym Test 2008; 27: 591–595.

16.

Mishra

Mohanty

Drzal

. Studies on mechanical performance of bio fiber/glass reinforced polyester hybrid composites. Compos Sci Technol 2003; 63: 1377–1385.

17.

Cornell

. How to apply response surface methodology, 2nd ed. Wisconsin: American Society for Quality Control, 1990.

18.

Box

Draper

. Empirical model building and response surfaces, New York: John Wiley& Sons, 1987.

19.

Cojocaru

Zakrzewska-Trznadel

. Response surface modeling and optimization of copper removal from aqua solutions using polymer assisted ultrafiltration. J Membrane Sci 2007; 298: 56–70.

20.

Kennedy J and Eberhart R. Particle swarm optimization. In: Proceedings of the international conference on neural networks, Perth, Australia, 1942–1948.

21.

Kumar

Reddy

. Multipurpose reservoir operation using particle swarm optimization. J Water Resour Plan Manage 2007; 133: 192–201.

22.

Jarboui

Ibrahim

Siarry

. A combinatorial particle swarm optimization for solving permutation flow shop problems. Comput Ind Eng 2008; 54: 526–538.

23.

Loja

MAR

. On the use of particle swarm optimization to maximize bending stiffness of functionally graded structures. J Symbol Comput 2014; 61: 12–30.

24.

Kotteeswaran

Sivakumar

. Performance evaluation of optimal PI controller for ALSTOM gasifier during coal quality variations. J Process Control 2014; 24: 27–36.

25.

Kotteeswaran

Sivakumar

. Optimal tuning of decentralized PI controller of nonlinear multivariable process using archival based multi-objective particle swarm optimization. Model Simul Eng 2014; 2014: 1–16.