Investigation on the mechanical and tribological properties of coconut inflorescence fiber reinforced unsaturated polyester composites

Abstract

In recent decades scientific research is progressing towards natural lignocellulose fibers reinforced polymer matrix composites owing to extensive use of petroleum based synthetic fillers which have several issues like environmental pollution and diminishment of petroleum based materials. So there arises the need to develop natural fiber fortified polymer composites without comprising on the mechanical, tribological, and other related characteristics which are essential for end user application. In this present research work one novel fiber from coconut tree labelled as inflorescence fiber is extracted and the possibility of using it as a potential fortification material with unsaturated polyester matrix is studied. This work involves investigation on the mechanical and tribological characteristics of alkali treated coconut inflorescence fiber fortified unsaturated polyester composites. First inflorescence from the coconut tree is collected from local sources. By the process of retting the primary layers are softened such that with the help of mallet the primary layers are removed thereby the lignocellulose inflorescence fibers can be extracted. The extracted coconut inflorescence fibers possess high level of lignin content whereas the modulus of elasticity is quite high that makes it as a potential replacement for synthetic fibers. So the extracted inflorescence fibers cannot be employed directly as fortification material with polymer matrix. Hence the extracted coconut inflorescence fibers are exposed to NaOH treatment at 5% wt / vol of aqueous solution for one hour. XRD analysis performed on the fibers by the method of KBr pellet technique for untreated and mercerized coconut inflorescence fibers revealed increment in crystallinity size and crystallinity index of mercerized fiber. newline