Enhancement of Impact Strength of a Car Bumper Using Natural Fiber Composite Made of Jute

Volume 8 Issue 3 May - July 2018

Research Paper

Enhancement of Impact Strength of a Car Bumper Using Natural Fiber Composite Made of Jute

P. Ragupathi*, N. M. Sivaram**, G. Vignesh***, Milon D. Selvam****

*,***Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Karpagam Academy of Higher Education, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.

** Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Karpagam Academy of Higher Education, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.

**** Research Scholar,Department of Mechanical Engineering, Karpagam Academy of Higher Education, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.

Ragupathi, P., Sivaram, N. M., Vignesh, G., and Selvam, M. D. (2018). Enhancement of Impact Strength of a Car Bumper Using Natural Fiber Composite Made of Jute. i-manager’s Journal on Mechanical Engineering, 8(3), 39-45. https://doi.org/10.26634/jme.8.3.14737

Abstract

The primary requirements of the present day automobiles are improved fuel efficiency and reduced emission levels. One way to achieve these two requirements is to decrease the weight of the components in the automobile without compromising on the strength of the components. The reduction in the weight of the components without compromising the strength of the automobile is achieved by using fiber-based composite materials in the automobile. The work reported in this paper compares the impact strength, cost and weight of jute-based composite bumper with that of the existing steel bumper. In this paper, the outline and development of a composite bumper made of jute fiber fortified polymer are explained. Hand lay-up process was utilized to develop the composite bumper and the same is carried out by using jute and epoxy bidirectional laminates. The jute composite bumper was developed by applying a series of jute fiber layers and liquid resin layers. Later, Charpy impact test was carried out to find the impact strength of composite bumper which was observed to be 7.14 J/mm2. When compared with the steel bumper, the composite bumper is 58% less in cost and a weight reduction of 56.1% is achieved.