Comparison of mechanical properties for alkali treated and untreated palm/glass sandwiched fiber reinforced polymer composite

This article highlights the development of an eco friendly polymer composite with natural fibers as reinforcement. The natural fibers are taken from palm tree namely; palm leaf stalk portion. It was sandwiched with artificially available glass fibers. The commercially available polyester resin blend with coconut shell filler in nano form was used as matrix to sandwich these composites. Portions of the extracted palm leaf stalk fibers are treated with potassium permanganate solution to enhance their properties while the remaining fibers are kept raw. For experimentation two set of plates one as untreated and other as alkali treated were fabricated using hand lay-up method. Specimens cut from the sandwiched composite plates were mechanically tested according to the ASTM standards. Experimental results reveal that the alkali treated palm leaf stalk fiber based polymer composite shows appreciable results than the untreated one. SEM analysis explores fewer voids for treated fibers. Hence the developed composite can be recommended for fabrication of automobile parts.