Image Computation Algorithm for Determination of Microstructural Properties of Rice Husk-Sisal-Kenaf Fiber Reinforced Hybrid Composite

. In the current work, the morphological and mechanical features of a hybrid epoxy matrix composite created by hand layup and reinforced with fibers from rice husk, sisal, and kenaf are predicted by using Watershed segmentation algorithm. To forecast the effect of coating composition on physical performance of a composite, Tensile and hardness tests were used to define the resulting hybrid composites' mechanical characteristics. The objective of the empirical investigation presented in this work is to understand the mechanical behavior of hybrid natural fiber composites. The production of rose husk-sisal-kenaf-epoxy hybrid samples is done by hand layup, with the planned plies being alternately stacked and the weight of the matrix and fibers being kept between 40% and 60%. Samples are sliced from a laminate that has been manufactured in accordance with ASTM specifications in order to undertake various experiments. Dog bone and flat bar shapes were used to cut specimens for tensile test & flexural test. Tensile strength and flexural strength were measured following execution of experiment under UTM and contrasted with base values of used epoxy polymer to identify constant change in strength.


Introduction
Technology has been driven out by replacing existing ones to make vehicle body parts lighter and easier, which were more affordable than the older materials, in order to suit the aim of the human comforts and desirable wants of the men [10][11].Because of their high hardness, sufficient toughness, and acceptable strength, natural polymer set hybrid composites of polymer sciences [12] have been employed through replacement materials with a broad variety of applications, including as wear resistant coating materials & cutting tools [13].Cu matrix composites have good electrical conductivity as well as high mechanical strength [14,15].Studying polymer-made composite materials [16], aspects of composites & use of other potential fillers, orientation of set fibers may be taken into account to get the good mechanical properties [17], and studying the visco-elastic characteristics, erosion behavior, thermal degradation behavior, and dielectric set properties of the hybrid composites [18] are all necessary for the development of hybrid composites.In their study of the compression and tensile tested properties of non-hybrid and hybrid composite materials, Andersen et al. [1] found that while both hybrid composite materials made of fabrics and wounded filament fiber configurations perform similarly under tensile loading, wounded filament laminates perform better under compression loading than a set of hybrid fabrics.When comparing the determined compression and tensile properties, non-hybrid materials' effectiveness is comparably good and explains distinct bounds for e-glass reinforced fiber epoxy and natural carbon fiber epoxy reinforced.Sisal-based thermal conductivities of unsaturated e-glass fiber hybrid and polyester composite were explored by Naidu et al. [2] who discovered that they depended on the fiber composition.The e-glass/sisal fiber hybrid material has a thermal conductivity that is higher than that of reinforced sisal fiber composite but lower than that of reinforced fiber glass composite.The effect of natural chalk powder on a sisal/glass hybrid fiber composite's thermal conductivity is observed to rise as the quantity of chalk powder is added to a certain weight of resin.In order to better determine natural fiber mechanical properties in composite construction, Cao et al. [3] researched kenaf fiber.Alkali & heat treatment to kenaf fibers were performed, and the effects on properties of tensile were predicted.The greatest value and projected fracture strain of a fiber treated at 10 and 15% with improved alkali solution are shown by the natural kenaf fiber tensile strength treated at high temperature 1400 degree Celsius.In their study of natural fiber maize, Bavan et al. [4] conducted thermogravimetric analyses, differential scanning calorimetric tests, and nature resin polyester coating over natural fiber maize analyses.They then provided information on the composite values of thermal degradation and their effects.It is seen as the temp of initial degradation is 200°C but Tmax for fiber(raw) is 330°C from the analysis of thermal gravimetric and for the set polyester coat over fiber maize, it was found 410°C.Thus the thermal stability increases can be noticed.It is concluded that from set DSC profiles, endothermic peak is 67°C for coated polyester over fiber and is abserved at 97°C for nature raw fiber and were mostly due to moisture adsorbed.The exothermic peaks are due to degradation of nature fiber maize noticeable 300°C above in case of fiber(raw).The morphological characteristics, thermal and mechanical characterization of natural okra fibers as potential reinforcement in taken polymer composites were studied by Kenny et al. [5], who discovered that set fibers extracted from plant bahmia okra are characterized by an optical, electron, and FTIR microscope.Thiruchitrambalam et al. [6] investigated the effects of hybridization on the mechanical characteristics of set natural fiber composites and discovered that hybridization of the composite materials improves the mechanical capabilities to some extent in both wet and dry situations.Composites made from hybrid and banana fiber perform better in terms of tensile and flexural strength.For compression and specified impact loading conditions, sisal fiber composites and hybrid are proven to be excellent candidates.The hybrid materials have better wear resistance in both dry and wet environments.With strain, moisture levels rise even further, and this is true for practically all loading scenarios.The nature sisal/e-Glass composite specimens have stronger tensile qualities as strength, and can endure up to 158.167 N/mm2, according to research by Sanjay et al. [7] who tested nature sisal, silicon carbide, and a hybrid of nature glass fibers.Natural sisal/eglass fiber with a 3% silicon carbide filling has the aforementioned flexural strength and can bear tensile forces of up to 558.6 Mpa.When compared to other composite materials filled with natural si carbide filler materials, the nature sisal/e-glass composite materials have a good impact strength of 33.71 KJ/m2.Short basalt fiber was examined by Manikandan et al. [8] who came to the comforting conclusions.The characterisation of material composites shows that both the amount of natural fiber and the determined mechanical properties of composites are significantly influenced by the length of the natural fiber.The ideal fiber length of 10 mm and the ideal fiber weight by percentage of 68% were noticed and studied.In comparison to previous finite lengths of fiber, the tensile strength of a fiber-basalt composite material exhibited with 68% natural fiber and 10 mm length of set fiber demonstrates better properties.Flexural strength of composites demonstrates that fibers with a finite length of 10 mm and a content of 68% are required for better mechanical properties.Fibers from kenaf and natural caroa were examined by Persico et al. [9].The investigated features of the hot-pressed, naturally reinforced kenaf PHBV panels revealed that there were sufficient fibers present to improve flexural modulus while aiding impact energy dissipation.On the other hand, the kenaf/soy composite material's qualities are impacted, therefore employing glycerol as a plasticizer and resin enhances the composite material's high strength.

Experimental Procedure
The fibers (Hibiscus Cannabinus, Rice Husk, and Sisal) are removed from the base using a common procedural method called water retting.The fibers were soaked in the prepared sodium hydroxide solution for 24 hours at room temperature, rinsed with soluble tap water, neutralized in distilled water, and then dried for 24 hours at room temperature.These natural fibers are cut into 30 cm long, limited lengths.Composites are prepared and constructed using the hand layup method.The fabrication process uses a method called the hand layup technique.The ratio of the weights of the resin and natural fibers was 30:1.taken to prevent the production of bubbles.because the entrapment of air bubbles in the matrix could induce a failure of the material.In the present work, Watershed segmentation algorithm is implemented for measuring the geometrical features such as orientation, perimeter, area etc. of the grains in the obtained microstructures.The watershed method is built on capturing specific background and foreground information.Markers are then used to run watershed and determine the precise borders.Generally speaking, this technique aids in the detection of touching and overlapping objects in images.For markers, it can be user defined by performing morphological procedures or manually clicking and obtaining the coordinates for the markers, among other options.We are unable to directly employ watershed algorithms because of the presence of noise.The steps for utilizing the Watershed algorithm to segment images are as follows: Finding the certain background using morphological operations like opening and dilation is the first step.Using the distance transform, find the certain foreground in step two.Unknown area serves as a marker for the watershed algorithm because it is a region that is neither in the foreground nor the background.

3.1Mechanical Properties
Tensile testingis a test of fundamental material science in that a taken specimen subjected to controlled tension till its failure.The major parameter that define and describes stress vs. strain curve which achieved during tension test that are elastic modulus (E), tensile strength (UTS), yield point (σy), Resilience, Poisson's ratio (ν) can be found by use of present method.Samples for test were enough cut on a jig saw machine as per specified ASTM standards.Full details of each type is taken samples were presented in respective figures.Samples are cut from set laminas on a jig saw machine as per ASTM set D638 Standards.2 dumbbell shaped specimens were used for testing.Tested sample dimensions, shown in below Figure 1.Experimental hybrid epoxy (kenaf/sisal/rice husk) composite fibre results were prepared to different nature fiber thicknesses, explained through set plots as shown in Figure 2 for the tensile properties of UTS to samples 1 and 2. It is obvious that the increase in strength when 8 mm fibre thickness is impregnated to epoxy matrix.Tensile properties increased when an epoxy set matrix impregnated with 10 mm fibre thickness of each as above mentioned.The mechanical properties were increased when fibre thickness is further increased.

Microstructure Study
SEM analysis was used to reveal the behavior between the bond set fibers and the assumed matrix composite for the morphological investigation.A SEB is a defined tool for obtaining micro-structural pictures for wells (scanning electron beam).A tiny set electron beam spot (EBS) of approximately 1 µm is repeatedly scanned over a specimen's surface area in a micrograph.The purpose of SEM is to create images that resemble visual representations of finite-scale components that permit uneven surfaces of observed material.SEM images with specified micrographs were used to do a morphological examination of alkali-treated fibers with set isophthalic resin (SEM).The samples of the described cracked surfaces were coated in gold and deposited for analysis.used an EVOMA15 scanning electron microscope with a predetermined accelerating voltage of 15 kV to analyze and track morphological changes.SEM micrographs of the composites were displayed, and the composite morphology was clearly different.Figure 3's Micro Graph illustrates what lies beneath the composite material's untreated cracked set surface.Due to unexpectedly weak adhesion between the resin and the fiber in the case of an untreated composite lamina, nature fiberpullout can be seen in the broken upper surface.The composite's shattered upper surface is depicted in Figure 4.The bonding between the nature fiber resin interfaces and the mentioned fiber fracture, which occurred in place of a nature fiberpullout, is increased for 10mm thick composite fiber surfaces that have been treated.In order to segment an image, it must be divided into a number of pixel-rich portions, each of which is represented by a mask or labeled image.By segmenting an image, we can evaluate just the important parts without having to process the entire thing.The majority of image segmentation models in computer vision use an encoder-decoder network, in contrast to classifiers, which typically employ a single encoder network.Figure 5 and 6 shows the segmented image of the microstructure obtained from both samples.

MaxIntensity
From the Table 2 and Table 3 it is observed that the area and perimeter of the grains of sample 2 is larger than the sample 1.

Conclusion
The exploitation of waste fibers, which are plentiful in nature fiber, and consequently in the textile industries is made possible by the use of long natural fibers as reinforcing agents.Long natural fibers have different uses nowadays in various natural rubbers due to their ease of mixing and other processing benefits, which allow for the fabrication of products with estimated designs that are more intricate and have more reinforcement.A fibre-matrix bond interface strength is one of the obtained properties of natural long-fibre containing composites that is significantly influenced by fiber orientation and content.It will be quite instructive to investigate how these parameters affect the qualities of the composite material.Image processing improves understanding of material characteristics or behaviors, reducing the , 01 (2023) E3S Web of Conferences ICMPC 2023 https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202343001258258 430 need for physical testing, which is typically more time-consuming, expensive, and damaging.In the present study, thus watershed segmentation algorithm was successfully implemented to characterize the microstructure properties of the prepared samples.

Fig. 1 :
Fig.1: Dimensions of tensile test specimen The tensile test results for various short fibers hybrid composite materials are shown in Table. 1, below.

Table 2 :
Geometrical analysis of Sample 1