The effect of environmental treatment fiber on properties of palm fiber reinforced polyester composites

Abstract

Mechanical properties of a palm fiber reinforced composite depend not only on its constituents but also on the interfacial adhesion. Palm fibers were treated with seawater in order to find out its influence of this treatment on the mechanical properties of the composite. The result for untreated polyester/palm fiber composites show the tensile strength, elongation at break, flexural strength decrease with the palm fiber loading increase but modulus of elasticity and flexural modulus increase. The treated composites with seawater exhibit higher tensile strength, modulus of elasticity, flexural strength and flexural modulus compare untreated composites. Morphology study shows that the interaction between the fiber and the matrix is improved when the fiber surface treated with seawater.