Investigation on Mechanical and Damping Characteristics of Silk Fiber Reinforced Polypropylene Composites

This research work primarily focuses on the tensile strength and damping properties of silk fiberreinforced polypropylene composites. Recycled silk fibers were used as a reinforcement phase and polypropylene fibers were used as a matrix phase in the composite. The composites were fabricated using a compression molding machine. Four different composite samples were developed by varying the silk fiber content in the composites (70:30, 60:40, 50:50, and 40:60). The influence of silk fiber content on the tensile strength and damping properties were investigated. It was observed from the results that the composite sample with 50% silk fiber content has shown the highest tensile, flexural, and impact strengths of 36.16 MPa, 38.12 MPa, and 29.03 kJ/m2 respectively. In the damping properties, the highest natural frequency was observed in the composite with 40% silk fiber content due to increased stiffness. It was also noticed that a reduction in the damping properties with a decrement in the silk fiber content in the composite. The composite developed can be used as an interior component in automobiles.