Influence of curing temperature on the mechanical and free vibration properties of sisal fiber reinforced polyester composites

Room temperature curing of the polyester composites is time consuming and inferior in terms of the strength compared to the composites cured with the temperature. Hence, in this work, a range of the curing temperatures were employed and its influence on the tensile, impact and free vibration properties of the sisal/polyester composite. Composites are produced for the varying curing temperature ranges from 60°C to 100 °C in steps of 10 with hot compression molding process. Results indicate that the highest mechanical strength was recorded for the samples cured at 100° C. The free vibration properties such as natural frequency and damping factor were obtained from the impulse excitation technique. Both natural frequency and damping of the composites was found to vary with the changes in curing temperature.