Natural fibres used at the FRP Centre

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Equipment

Natural Fibre Reinforced Polymer Composites or NFPCs are mostly used in non-load bearing indoor components in civil engineering because of their vulnerability to environmental attack. Some of the natural fibres used in the manufacturing of NFPCs are sisal, coir, oil palm, jute, pineapple, hemp and bamboo. The fibres seen in the image are possibly coir pith.

IIT Madras set up six centres in the year 1973. The Composite Structures (FRP) Research Centre, also known as the Fibre Reinforced Plastics (FRP) Centre, was one of them. The centre was officially opened in March 1974 and its key objectives and services offered, as listed in the 1974 IITM Annual Report were: Research and development of raw materials and composites, process design and development, mould design and development, process machinery design and fabrication, testing and quality control services, graduate and postgraduate teaching and a lot more.

Collection:

Gourishankar Collection

Album Name:

FRP Centre (3)

Photograph ID:

001/0257/IMG_0310

Album ID:

0257

Date:

6 January 1977

Photographer:

C. Gourishankar (1926-2002). A geologist by qualification, Gourishankar started his career as a photographer after working for many years with the Geological Survey of India. In everything that he did, Gourishankar strove to achieve flawlessness and impeccable quality. Thus his photography too was characterised by this drive for perfection. Every photograph that Gourishankar took was meticulously planned and shot and printed with diligence and patience. Gourishankar carried out most of the official photography at IIT Madras in the 1960s.