An Experimental Evaluation of Mechanical and Dielectric Properties of One Year Dried Palm Fruit Empty Fruit Bunch Fibre Reinforced Polyester Composites

Abstract

The healthy environment for leading happy life of biotic community invited the development of green materials. In the present work, a new natural fibre i.e. Palm Fruit Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB) is extracted by Hot Water Immersion (HWI) method, and is characterized for its tensile and morphological properties. Palm fruit EFB fibre chemical treatment - 1 (CT - 1) reinforced polyester composites exhibit tensile strength of 27.62 MPa at 7.62% fibre volume fraction whereas untreated fibre reinforced composites show 758.23 MPa tensile modulus at 13.28 % fibre volume fraction. The maximum flexural strength (47.54 MPa), modulus (2.51 GPa) are achieved with the reinforcement of chemically treated fibre in polyester matrix at maximum fibre volume fraction (20.68 %). Increasing trend of impact strength is visualized with the increase in fibre content, and maximum value of 6.45 kJ/m2 is obtained at 24.05 % fibre volume fraction. The dielectric strength of 6 kV/mm is seen at 17.7% fibre volume fraction.