Evaluation of mechanical behavior of chemically modified Borassus fruit short fiber/unsaturated polyester composites

Natural fine fibers were extracted from Borassus fruits belonging to the Arecaceae family. To improve the surface, these fibers were treated with aq NaOH solution. Composites were prepared by the hand lay up process using both the untreated and alkali-treated Borassus fine fibers as reinforcement and unsaturated polyester resin as matrix. The effect of a coupling agent and alkali treatment of fibers on tensile, flexural and impact properties of the composites was studied. The mechanical properties and interfacial bonding were found to improve when surface modified fibers were employed in the composites. This is due to the improvement of chemical bonding between the treated fibres and polyester matrix as also supported by Fourier transform infrared results. Water absorption by the different composite types was also found to be negligible.