Mechanical and morphology studies of hybrid natural fiber composite

• Main Author: Muhammad Amin Bin Sha'ri
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: Pineapple leaf fiber; Natural fiber; Orange pool fiber

One of the aims of this project is to discover the new found property relationships between the integration of pineapple leaf fibres (PLF) and orange peel fibres (OPF) into a polymer matrix which will form into a composite. The next aim is that based on these new findings, the engineering applicability of the composite will be ascertained. Currently, the frequent use of plastics in daily realistic applications has been concerning engineers, scientists, environmentalists, policymakers and societies surrounding the problem of sustainability due to the fact the plastics are non-biodegradable. Therefore, in order to contribute to sustainability, aspiring engineers must find a sound solution to enable plastics to be biodegradable. Polyester resin, pineapple leaves, and orange peels were obtained as raw materials for the execution of this project. The organic materials were then processed properly to make them ready to be involved into the fabrication process. The composites were fabricated via the hand lay-up method while keeping in mind the different PLF filler loadings at 0 wt%, 10 wt%, 20 wt%, 30 wt% and 40 wt%. Once the composites were ready, they were then cut into samples for mechanical testing and morphology studies. The mechanical testing process consists of tensile, impact and hardness testing and the morphological study involves a usage of a scanning electron microscope (SEM). This study has found that OPF can slightly improve the tensile properties of the original PLF/Polyester composites, but instead reduces the mechanical properties of the composites from the impact and hardness perspectives. The results have shown that for tensile applications, a PLF filer loading of either 30 wt% or 40 wt% is optimal with the integration of OPF. In terms of impact applicability, the best PLF filler loading is at 40 wt% without the OPF fibres whereas for hardness applications, the best results present at 0 wt% (pure polyester). The produced SEM images has shown some evidence on why the composites have lower average tensile strength properties when compared to previous studies of PLF/Polyester composites and the evidence was the formation of voids in the microstructure of the composites. This happened because of uneven dispersion of the fibres in the matrix due to the length of the PLF fibres being less than the optimum length at 30 mm. Another factor would be that some formation of tiny bubbles existed during the hand lay-up method. Thus, to avoid this particular mistake, future researchers are urged to utilize injection moulding instead to avoid possible human errors during the fabrication procedure.