Effects of Surface Modifications on the Mechanical Properties of Reinforced Pineapple Leaf Fibre Polypropylene Composites

Abstract

Pineapple Leaf Fibre (PALF) is one of the natural fibres that have high potential in the industry. Natural fibres have become the main alternative source for reinforced polymer composites. The objective of this study is to observe the effect of chemical treatments using Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) solution, Zinc chloride, Acetic Anhydride and Nitric acid on the mechanical properties of pineapple leaf fibre reinforced polypropylene composites. The tensile test was conducted by using the ASTM D638-10 to obtain the tensile strength (TS) and Young’s modulus (YM), Flexural properties were conducted to determine the flexural strength (FS) and flexural modulus (FM) of the reinforced composites using the ASTM D256-10 method, and impact test was conducted to determine the impact strength (IS) of the reinforced composites using the Izod ASTM D790-17 method. From the results obtained, the composites with surface modified PALF fillers show enhanced mechanical properties over the untreated PALF fillers in this order; for TS untreated composite < modified with NaOH < modified with C 3 H 6 O 3 < modified with ZnCl < modified with HNO 3 . For YM untreated composite < modified with HNO 3 < modified with C 3 H 6 O 3 < modified with NaOH < modified with ZnCl. For FS, untreated PALF/PP composites < modified with NaOH < modified with ZnCl < modified with HNO 3 < modified with C 3 H 6 O 3 . For FM, untreated reinforced PALF/PP composites < modified with NaOH < modified with ZnCl < modified with C 3 H 6 O 3 < modified with HNO 3 . For IS, the untreated reinforced PALF/PP composites < modified with NaOH < modified with HNO 3 < modified with ZnCl < modified with C 3 H 6 O 3 . SEM analysis was carried out on the PALF before the compounding to analyze the effect of the surface modification agents.