Characterization of Silk Composite and comparison of its Mechanical Properties with other composites

Silk is a naturally occurring fiber with good tensile and damping properties.

In the present work, silk fibers are extracted from cocoons and are woven into a cloth. The cloth is then measured for its GSM value. The cloth is divided into smaller parts as per requirements.

Fig. 1: Raw Silk Fibers

The selected epoxy, LY 566, is mixed with the hardener, and the mat is prepared by stacking alternate layers of epoxy & hardener and silk cloth using hand layup process as per ASTM standards D3039/D 3039M. The composite mat is then cut as per the standards into Tensile and Flexure specimens.

Fig.2: Preparation of specimen by applying epoxy- hardener mixture between layers of raw silk fiber mat

The Tensile test and Flexure test is conducted on the Universal Testing Machine (UTM) to determine the tensile strength and bending stress in the specimen. The specimen withstood a maximum load of 600N during the tensile test denoting a tensile strength value of 32.46N/mm2 and it withstood a maximum load 275N during the flexure test denoting a maximum bending stress of 125N/mm2.

Fig.3: Tensile test

The project was carried under the expert guidance of Dr. S. Beer Mohammed and Professor Sathick Basha.