Design and Performance Testing of Brown Grass Flower Broom Reinforced Composites

Broom-grass is a perennial, high value, non-perishable cash crop for wide range of agro-climatic conditions. It is a multipurpose species which provides brooms, fuel, fodder, and has high soil conservation value. In this work, the natural fibre reinforced composite which consists of polymeric matrix with natural reinforcing fibres (matrix + brown grass flower plant fibre) will be fabricated using the hand layup technique. The samples are prepared using the fibres and epoxy, which are handled differently in the processing. Fibre gives reinforcement and the matrix act as a binder, so as to support and protect the fibres and provide a means of distributing load between the fibres. Mechanical properties are being determined by conducting various destructive tests on the brown grass fibre composite material specimens.