v Arumuga prabu - Center for Composite Materials, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kalasalingam University, Anand Nagar, Krishnankoil, Tamilnadu, India
v Manikandan - Center for Composite Materials, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kalasalingam University, Anand Nagar, Krishnankoil, Tamilnadu, India
m Uthayakumar - Center for Composite Materials, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kalasalingam University, Anand Nagar, Krishnankoil, Tamilnadu, India

This article reports the effective usage of redmud (RM), an industrial waste, as a novel filler inpolymer matrix. The composite has been fabricated with redmud as secondary reinforcement in bananafiber reinforced polyester (BFRP) using compression molding technique. The mechanical propertiessuch as tensile, flexural and impact strength have been studied for different fiber weight percentage,weight percentage of red mud and chemical treatment of fiber. It is observed that the addition of 10 wtpercent of redmud improves the impact and flexural properties for both NaOH, silane treated anduntreated banana fiber but there is a decreased trend for tensile strength. It is also found that bananafiber particulate composites have superior mechanical properties than the banana/polyester. Addition ofredmud to the banana fiber decreases the moisture absorption of the composites. The studies of thescanning electron microscopy (SEM) have been done to know the fracture mechanism

Keywords:Redmud (RM)Banana FiberPolyester ResinMechanical propertiesSEM