A Taguchi-based study on the control factors of reinforced composites with the fiber of coir and pineapple leaves

The use of composite materials, whether metallic or non-metallic, is becoming more popular nowadays because of some of their superior characteristics compared to the use of wood and metallic materials alone. From this perspective, a new natural fiber reinforced composite by varying the fiber orientation was developed in this study using coir and pineapple leaf fiber. This work uses the Taguchi method to investigate the different effects of control factors on mechanical and physical characteristics of the fabricated natural fiber-based composites. Various control factors were used, including fiber ratios, angles of orientation, and mat types. The testing was conducted in accordance with ASTM standards, and the results were validated through various statistical analyses including Taguchi orthogonal array analysis, confirmation tests, regression analysis, and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Based on the analysis and validation, the highest mean impact strength was found 53.93 J/cm², tensile strength 31.94 MPa, flexural strength 46.365 MPa, Rockwell hardness number 77, and lower water absorption rate only 3.62 %. From the confirmation test, margin of errors was found to be 4.84 %, 2.59 %, 2.35 %, 6.62 %, and 2.334 % for impact, tensile, and flexural strength, Rockwell hardness, and water absorption test respectively. The variation of the experimental and predicted results was observed from the regression analysis, and it was 2.93 to 0.4 J/cm², 2.12 to 0.79 MPa, 3.54 to 0.33 MPa, 2.33 to 0.8 RHN, and 0.92 %-0.13 % for impact, tensile, and flexural strength, Rockwell hardness, and water absorption test respectively. Overall, ANOVA analysis was used to examine the effects of different control variables, and it was discovered that the angle of orientation of fibers had a substantial impact on flexural strength and water absorption rate were 72.30 % and 70.89 % respectively. Similarly, mat types on tensile strength and Rockwell hardness with 46.47 % and 50.67 % respectively. In addition, the impact strength was most significantly affected by the wt.% ratio of fibers, which was approximately 50.32 %. From the above characteristics and their environmentally friendly behavior, these composites can be used in the place of synthetic fiber-based products.