Influence of Sawdust Bio-filler on the Tensile, Flexural, and Impact Properties of Mangifera Indica Leaf Stalk Fibre Reinforced Polyester Composites

Abstract

Abstract. The need to have biodegradable composites is aloft in today's market as they are environment friendly and are also easy to fabricate. In this study, mangifera indica leaf stalk fibres were used as reinforcement along with saw dust as bio-filler material. Unsaturated isophthalic polyester resin was used as the matrix. The fibres were treated with 6 % vol. NaOH and neutralized with 3 % vol. of dilute HCl. Treatment of sawdust fillers was done by using 2% vol. NaOH solution. Hand layup method and compression moulding technique was used to fabricate the composite laminates. Specimens for evaluating the mechanical properties were prepared by using water jet machining. The results indicated an increase in tensile, flexural and impact strength of composites with addition of sawdust upto 3%. Further addition of the bio-filler resulted in decrease of mechanical properties.

Selected engineering properties of palmyrah (Borassus flabellifer) leaf base

“…The impact strength of palmyrah petiole fibre reinforced composite increased by 97.07 per cent compared with raw one (Srinivasababu et al, 2014). The impact strength of Mangifera indica leaf stalk reinforced polyester Composites was measured as 7.5 J (Heckadka et al, 2018). The impact strength is very low since the total moisture content of the leaf base is 32.2 per cent w.b and the flexural properties of the base were high.…”