A comparison of tensile properties of polyester composites reinforced with pineapple leaf fiber and pineapple peduncle fiber

Pineapple fiber which is rich in cellulose, relatively inexpensive, and abundantly available has the potential for polymer reinforcement. This research presents a study of the tensile properties of pineapple leaf fiber and pineapple peduncle fiber reinforced polyester composites. Composites were fabricated using leaf fiber and peduncle fiber with varying fiber length and fiber loading. Both fibers were mixed with polyester composites the various fiber volume fractions of 4, 8 and 12% and with three different fiber lengths of 10, 20 and 30 mm. The composites panels were fabricated using hand lay- out technique. The tensile test was carried out in accordance to ASTM D638. The result showed that pineapple peduncle fiber with 4% fiber volume fraction and fiber length of 30 mm give highest tensile properties. From the overall results, pineapple peduncle fiber shown the higher tensile properties compared to pineapple leaf fiber. It is found that by increasing the fiber volume fraction the tensile properties has significantly decreased but by increasing the fiber length, the tensile properties will be increased proportionally. Minitab software is used to perform the two- way ANOVA analysis to measure the significant. From the analysis done, there is a significant effect of fiber volume fraction and fiber length on the tensile properties.