Investigation of Mechanical Properties of Short Sisal Fiber Reinforced Phenol Formaldehyde and Vinyl Ester Composites

Composite materials are replacing standard Engineering metals and alloys for many applications. Here in this work, Sisal fiber is used as reinforcement. Since it is abundantly available in nature and majority of it is getting wasted without being used as reinforcement in engineering applications. Short Sisal fiber reinforced Phenol Formaldehyde and Vinyl Ester resin composites are prepared with varied fiber lengths (5 mm and 10 mm) and for varied weight fraction (20%, 25% and 30%) of the fibers. The short Sisal fibers are treated with 5% of Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) solution. In the present work, the effect of the fiber treatment, fiber length and fiber loading on the mechanical properties are investigated. The results show that the Alkali Treated Sisal fiber reinforced composites have better mechanical properties than untreated composites. The 10 mm fiber length reinforced composite shown improved mechanical properties than 5 mm fiber length reinforced composite. Increase in mechanical properties is seen when the fiber content in the composite is increased from 20% to 25% and 25% to 30%. The 30% weight of the Sisal fiber reinforced composite has shown higher values of mechanical properties.