THERMO-MECHANICAL INVESTIGATION OF HYBRID PARTICULATE BANANA/SISAL FIBER REINFORCED POLYESTER MATRIX COMPOSITE

An increasing desire is to produce eco-friendly materials for varied engineering applications, such as natural fiber-reinforced composites (NFRCs). Although many research works on natural fiber polymer matrix composite exist, not much is known on the thermo-mechanical properties of acetic acid-treated particulate banana-sisal fiber reinforced polyester composite. Additionally, establishing the fiber constituent with a detrimental effect on thermal and mechanical properties for acetic acid-treated particulate banana-sisal reinforced polyester matrix composite is not well known. This work aims to examine the effect of banana-sisal particulate fiber on the thermal and mechanical properties of banana-sisal reinforced polyester matrix composites to address the gap. The composites were produced via the mechanical stir mix technique. Thermal, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIS), compressive, flexural, and impact analysis were conducted according to appropriate test standards. The results revealed that the thermal properties of the developed composites were not dependent on hybridization. Also, hybridization significantly enhanced the compressive and flexural properties, with 70B/30S and 50B/50S particulate fiber reinforced polyester matrix composite found to have the most superior compressive and flexural properties. A major contribution of this study is that the impact properties of the developed composites were dependent on the fiber composition and decreased as the sisal content percentage increased. In general, reinforced polyester matrix composite with 70B/30S particulate fiber has a preferable combination of thermal and mechanical properties.