Effect of Fibre Loadings on the Tensile Properties of PALF/PHBV Composite: A Two- Parameter Weibull Analysis

Interest in biodegradable and sustainable is steadily rising which has made the investigation into natural fibre reinforced biopolymers. Among these, poly(3-hyroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) stands out for its biodegradability and biocompatibility, but its inherent brittle and has few or no properties conducive to application to wider engineering fields. Additionally. The natural variability of fibres can lead to inconsistent mechanical performance, yet only a few studies have examined this variability from a statistical perspective. In this study, the influence of adding pineapple leaf fibres (PALF) at different loading (10-40 wt.%) was investigated on the mechanical behaviour of PHBV. The tensile strength was analysed using a linearized two-parameter Weibull method to determine the scale (η) and shape (β) parameters, providing insight into both the typical strength and the variability of the composite’s performance. The results show that tensile strength increases with fibre loading, with highest of 46.54 MPa (±4.12) at 30 wt.% PALF, corresponding to a 73% rise in scale parameter compare to other loadings. A strong correlation was established between the experimental data and the Weibull model, with (R2 > 0.9) and the differences are below 1 % and 7 % for neat PHBV and PALF/PHBV respectively. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis revealed signs of fibre rupture and fibre extraction, indicating that the composite’s failure was a result of poor interfacial bonding between the matrix and fibre. The Weibull analysis able to provide more comprehensive evaluation of the composite mechanical reliability as it taken account the statistical distribution of all measured data rather than just the means value. The two-parameter Weibull model demonstrated that the composite containing 30 wt.% PALF attained the maximum tensile strength with satisfactory reliability. This finding signifies an ideal equilibrium between performance and variability, essential for the dependable design of sustainable PHBV-based composites.