Improving fatigue behavior of cow-dung fiber reinforced epoxy composite using waste glass powder

The objectives of present work include finding the low-cost alternative of environmentally-unsafe carbon fiber composites and disposing of the waste cow-dung productively. An inexpensive way to treat cow-dung fibers using the waste glass powder and Poly Vinyl Alcohol (PVA) adhesive is reported. The treatment has increased the bending cyclic fatigue strength (CFS) of cow-dung fiber reinforced epoxy composite (CDFRC). It was found that CFS of CDFRC was comparable to carbon fiber reinforced epoxy composite (CFREC). A finite element (FE) model using the numerical homogenization technique was constituted to predict the elastic properties of treated/untreated CDFRC. Further, the predicted elastic properties were used as an input for the macro-mechanical FE model constituted using transient analysis module of ANSYS. The macro model was used to calculate the stresses and deformations at different load ratios (R) for the corresponding lives of the CDFRC. The stress-strain-life relations for treated/untreated CDFRC were established. The reasons for increased CFS were identified collectively with the help of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) micrographs, FE results, and statistical analysis. Finally, the effect of natural weathering on untreated and treated CDFRCs was evaluated. The treated CDFRCs have shown higher resistance to natural weathering.