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Due to their low density, natural fibers have increasingly found application in the development of systems such as wind turbine blades, airplane wing spar where flexural strength is a strong criterion for material selection. Although different researchers have studied the mechanical properties of such natural fiber composites, none has focused on the optimization of the flexural strength of pineapple leaf fiber (PALF)/glass fiber (GF) reinforced epoxy hybrid composite. This study applied the Taguchi and general regression analysis method in the optimization and modeling of the flexural strength of the P x G y E z composite. Flexural strength of 144.5 MPa at an optimum development parameter of PALF at 20% volume content, GF at 20% volume content, and fiber length of 25 mm. Analysis of variance and regression analysis was also employed to describe and model the flexural behavior of the developed composite. The PALF fiber showed to have a higher contribution to the flexural strength of the material. The equation developed to model the flexural behavior of the material showed a good correlation between the simulated value and the experimental values of the flexural strength at different combinations of manufacturing parameters.

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The tensile strength, specific tensile strength, breaking force, tenacity and percent elongation of some fibres extracted from eight fibrous plants found in Northern Nigeria were determined with a view to ascertaining their suitability for the replacement of glass fibre in plastic composites. Also the crimp properties and work of rupture with the specific work of rupture for all the plant fibres were analysed. The fibrous plants were Sisal (Agave Sisalana) (ASA), Lalloh (Corchorus Triden L.) (CCR), Dargaza (Grewia Mollis Juss) (GRW), Kenaf (Hibiscus Cannabinus L.) (HCB), Goruba (Hyphaene Thebaica)(HYP), Sukuwa (Sida Acuta) (SDA), Karlgo (Piliostigma Thoningii) (PTA) and Shikuri Tuggah (Urena Lobata) (ULB). Their properties were compared with E-Glass. The results show that whereas the highest tensile strength of the plant fibre (ASB) was about one-third that of the glass fibre, the highest specific tensile strength of the plant fibre (HCB) was about 5 times that of the glass fibre. The percent elongation of the plant fibres except HYB and SDA were at least 5.6 times that of the glass fibre. The specific work of rupture for the plant fibre were also found to be upto 31% higher compared with that of glass. Three of the plant fibres, (HCB, ASA and ULB) were observed to be possible replacements for the classic glass fibre.

-The research aims to study and optimize the formulation of materials required for advanced ceramic production using response surface methodology (RSM). In this research effort, the five (5) process independent variables studied with their corresponding levels are: Antang corundum powder, A (92.2 -100 %W); polyvinyl alcohol, B (0 -5 %W); CaO, C (0 -2.3 %W); MgO, D (0 -0.5 %W);and the sintering temperature, E (1200 -1500 °C).The mechanical property responses determined were density, ρ, compressive strength, C/S,flexural strength, F/S; which are key characteristics of ceramics for armour applications. The optimized density, compressive strength and flexural strength of the sintered Antang corundum are 3.45 g/cm 3 g, 1982 MPa and 295 MPa respectively; while the respective RSM prediction values are 3.46 g/cm 3 g, 1979 MPa and 286 MPa. The optimum material compositions from the experiment were Corundum, 95.66 %W; PVA, 2.78 %W; CaO, 1.28 %W; MgO, 0.28 %W at a Sintering Temperature of 1500 °C.On comparing the determined optimum mechanical responses of the sintered Antang ceramic with the maximum RSM prediction values, there is high level of assurance in using RSM for the formulation processing ceramic armour development.

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