Development of Environment Friendly Hybrid Layered Sisal-Glass-Epoxy Composites

Sisal paper has been introduced as a new reinforcement form in natural fibre based polymer composites. Sisal fibre obtained from Agava sisalana was transformed to pulp with moderate beating to retain sufficient reinforcing strength in split fibres, and then was converted to handmade paper form. The paper so obtained was impregnated with epoxy resin, stacked one over the other and subjected to heat and pressure to make layered composites. Chopped Strand Mat (CSM) of glass fibre was introduced in the composite to make high strength sisal-glass-epoxy composites. Sisal paper epoxy composites achieved 32.5 MPa tensile strength at 23.7 vol% of sisal paper that was further enhanced to 71.2 MPa by adding 14 vol% of glass CSM in the hybrid composite. The mechanical properties of hybrid layered sisal-glass-epoxy revealed that sisal paper can replace 84.5% of glass fibre in a moderate glass reinforcing epoxy composite to obtain an equivalent range of tensile modulus. (C) Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2012