An inquisition on alkaline treated Banana/Sisal/Pineapple fiber epoxy composites for light to moderate load applications

Abstract

To address the sustainable development goals, an attempt was made to investigate the alkaline treated and untreated Banana, Sisal, and Pineapple fiber epoxy hybrid composite for their mechanical and thermal properties. Tensile, Flexural, Impact, modulus, and Heat Deflection temperature (HDT) were evaluated and analyzed for low-load structural applications. The performance of Alkaline Treated Fiber composites was better than the untreated fiber composites. The treated Banana, Sisal, and Pineapple hybrid fiber epoxy composite has a high HDT value of about 78°C, a maximum tensile strength of 104 MPa, a tensile modulus of 25 MPa, a flexural strength of 78 MPa, a flexural modulus of 5286 MPa, and an impact strength of 286 J/m when compared to other composites. Interfacial failure analysis was also carried out with the help of a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) to study the microstructural behavior of the tested specimens. It was observed that the alkaline treatment increases fiber-matrix interaction.