KCT Wins ARAI Technovus Mobility Hackathon

Students from Coimbatore's Kumaraguru College of Technology (KCT) won the national-level Hackathon by offering natural fibre as an alternative to plastics in automobile interiors. Their idea of a reinforced hybrid fibre made of banana and kenaf extracts won Rs. 1 lakh cash prize at a national-level Hackathon organized by the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI).

The 'ARAI TECHNOVUUS MOBILITY HACKATHON' was held in Pune on July 16 and 17 which was an innovative competition that aimed at solving problems in the automotive domain. The Hackathon exposed students to work on problem statements prevailing in the automobile industry and find solutions to them under the guidance of mentors from the industry.

Almost 300 teams from across the country offered solutions under 10 broad problem statements in the Mobility Hackathon. The KCT team was recognized under the category 'Sustainable Textile Composites for Body Panels and Upholstery' for developing reinforced hybrid fibre for automotive applications. While synthetic materials like plastics are widely used for making interiors of automobiles, five students from the Automobile Department of KCT offered natural fibre as an eco-friendly alternative. Calling themselves, ‘Team Arian’ (Automotive Research in Affordable Natural Fibre) the student team came out with a composite fibre by blending banana and kenaf stem. The students reiterated that this composite fibre offers good tensile and flexural strength to act as a replacement for plastics in many parts of the automotive.

Plastics are used in making automotive roof panels, door trims, interior roof panels, parcel trays, brake rotor shields and many other parts. Students say that such synthetic fibre may react with the heat and emit chemicals which may cause health issues. “We had to develop recyclable textile composites that use non-toxic, reusable resins for use in vehicle body panels and upholstery. The material should be highly durable and able to withstand years of hard use on a vehicle in a variety of environments and climates,” revealed S Kavinesh, Member, Team Arian.

“After analyzing the properties of over 10 natural fibres, we found banana and kenaf to be more suitable for the requirement. We used epoxy as the binding chemical for the fibre extracted from banana and kenaf stem to bring to the form of a plate. The final product was found lighter than different types of plastics in use and manufacturing cost was also low,” stated M Karan, another member of the team.

The faculty mentor of the team, R Kishore, Assistant Professor from the Automobile Engineering Department termed the KCT team's win in the Hackathon as a significant feat and said that the ARAI Committee will help students with patent registration in the coming weeks.