Open Access

ARTICLE

The Effect of Fibre Length on Flexural and Dynamic Mechanical Properties of Pineapple Leaf Fibre Composites

A. A. Mazlan¹, M. T. H. Sultan^1,2,3,*, S. N. A. Safri², N. Saba², A. U. M. Shah², M. Jawaid²

1 Department of Aerospace Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, 43400 UPM, Malaysia
2 Laboratory of Biocomposite Technology, Institute of Tropical Forestry and Forest Products (INTROP), Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, 43400 UPM, Malaysia
3 Aerospace Malaysia Innovation Centre (944751-A), Prime Minister’s Department, MIGHT Partnership Hub, Jalan Impact, 63000 Cyberjaya, Malaysia

* Corresponding Author: M. T. H. Sultan. Email:

Journal of Renewable Materials 2020, 8(7), 833-843. https://doi.org/10.32604/jrm.2020.08724

Received 02 October 2019; Accepted 06 January 2020; Issue published 01 June 2020

Abstract

The present paper deals with the effect of loading different pineapple leaf fibre (PALF) length (short, mixed and long fibres) and their reinforcement for the fabrication of vinyl ester (VE) composites. Performance of PALF/VE composites was investigated through three-point bending flexural testing and viscoelastic (dynamic) mechanical properties through dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). DMA results revealed that the long PALF/VE composites displayed better mechanical, damping factor and dynamic properties as compared to the short and mixed PALF/VE composites. The flexural strength and modulus of long PALF/VE composites were 113.5 MPa and 14.3 GPa, respectively. The storage (E′) and loss (E″) moduli increased to 2000 MPa and 225 MPa respectively for PALF/VE composites. Overall result analysis indicated that increasing the length of the reinforcement fibre results in satisfactory mechanical performance and dynamic properties of composites.

---

Keywords

---