Mechanical and dynamic characterization of SiO 2 nanofiller-based Luffa cylindrica fibre composites structures using finite element method

The present work mainly explored the fabrication of different weight percentages of SiO₂ nano-filler-based Luffa cylindrica polymer composites (LCPC) and investigated their free vibration behaviour based on elastic properties acquired from a uniaxial tensile test. The elastic properties of fabricated polymer composites are obtained as per ISO 527-5 standards. The flexural responses of different nano-filler-based polymer composites are also analyzed using a three-point bending test in UTM. The completeness of the present polymer composite structure is verified by comparing it with the available published work and found to be in excellent agreement. The field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) helps to understand the interfacial bonds, fibre pullout, voids, internal cracks etc. between fibre and matrix by morphological images. The addition of SiO₂ nano-filler into the polymer composites boosts mechanical properties such as tensile strength and flexural strength and also provides better compatibility between matrix and fibre due to the high surface area of SiO₂ nano-filler. Later, the structural responses (free vibration) are investigated with respect to different parameters such as edge conditions, aspect ratio and side-to-thickness ratio.