Purpose The purpose of this study is to carry out an investigation of the role of the wood particle size on the mechanical properties of poly lactic acid (PLA)-reinforced neem fiber biocomposite. Design/methodology/approach Composite test specimens were processed by reinforcing neem wood flour (NWF) in two different particle sizes, micro-sized NWF (MNWF) and nano-sized NWF (NNWF) separately into PLA. Composites were extruded at four different fiber loadings (10, 15, 20 and 25 Wt.%) into PLA matrix. The MNWF and NNWF had particle sizes varying from 5 to 15 µm and 10 to 15 nm, respectively. Findings Tensile strength, flexural strength and impact strength of PLA increased with fiber reinforcement for both the MNWF and NNWF cases. The NNWF-reinforced PLA composite at 20 Wt.% fiber loading proved to be the best composite that had outstanding mechanical properties in this research. Practical implications The developed composite can be used as a substitute for conventional plywood for furniture, building infrastructure and interior components for the automobile, aircraft and railway sectors. Originality/value A new biocomposite had been fabricated by using PLA and NWF and had been tested for its mechanical characteristics.

A Bio composite comprising Prosopis Juliflora Fiber (PJF) and Poly Lactic Acid (PLA) was processed considering two particulate sized reinforcements, coarse PJF (avg. 15 µm) and fine PJF (10-50 nm). They were added individually at ratios of 10, 15, 20 and 25 wt% into PLA matrix. The composites were extruded and tested for mechanical properties. The addition of PJF resulted with an increase in the tensile, flexural and impact strengths of the polymer. Adding PJF to PLA showed a decrease in the hardness of the polymer. Water Absorption test showed an increase in water uptake with increasing fiber content. The most optimum ratio of PLA to PJF was found to be 80:20. The fine PJF reinforced composites proved to be superior over the coarse PJF reinforced composites at all stages of the research. FESEM and TGA were used to study morphology and thermal characteristics respectively.

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Material is one or more substances that form an object. Due to an attractive mechanical characteristic, materials are commonly selected for structural applications. Recently, the hybrid MMC has been developed and highly an innovative trend in material science. The current study is concentrated on the formation of an innovative hybrid MMC by utilizing aluminum, silicon carbide and fly ash particulates of bagasse. In this study, the physical characteristics of Aluminum 6061 were evaluated by adding Sic, fly ash particulates of bagasse and observed that this is the hardest substance. The compositions were added until the final level and a method of stir casting has been utilized to fabricate Al MMC. XRD ie x-ray diffraction was utilized to analyze the structural characterization of MMC and optical microscopy was utilized to analysis the microstructure on MMC. In this study, the mechanical characteristics like hardness, elongation, yield strength, UTS and density have been performed on MMC. Aluminum was added with 5% of silicon carbide and 10% of fly ash particles of bagasse in one case and in other case aluminum was added with 10% of fly ash particles of bagasse and 10% of silicon carbide. As a result, it was detected that there is an improvement in the hardness and UTS and a reduction in the density and elongation of the composites in comparison to plain aluminum. This shows that the aluminum-silicon carbide-fly ash particles of bagasse MMC substantially differ throughout all characteristics.