UNVEILING THE TENSILE AND FLEXURAL BEHAVIORS OF INFLORESCENCE/SISAL FIBER-FORTIFIED HYBRID EPOXY COMPOSITES

The enactment of natural fibers as a replacement for conventional synthetic fiber has aroused the interest of academicians and researchers to look out for newer materials. Surface modification of inflorescence fiber with 5% wt/vol of aqueous solution eliminated the functional elements present. An increase in crystal size of 17.84% was observed between untreated and alkali-treated inflorescence fibers. FTIR characterization revealed an increase in stress transfer capacity by the elimination of hemicelluloses, lignin, pectin and other amorphous substances. The addition of inflorescence fiber up to 20 wt.% with 10 wt.% of sisal fiber and 70 wt.% of epoxies solicited towards utter tensile strength of 48.42[Formula: see text]MPa and flexural strength of 72.69[Formula: see text]MPa. Around 51.98% increase in tensile strength was recorded between S0 (neat epoxy) and S4 (10% sisal and 20% inflorescence fiber) composites. Similarly, a 39.18% increase in flexural strength was estimated between S0 (neat epoxy) and S4 (10% sisal and 20% inflorescence fiber) composites. SEM analysis reported the formation of rough surfaces and cavities on the inflorescence fiber surface owing to NaOH modification of fibers. Fiber pullouts were also recorded in 25 wt.% reinforced inflorescences/sisal fiber fortified epoxy composites which attributed to a sudden decrease in tensile and flexural properties.