Biodegradable Sansevieria cylindrica Leaves Fiber/Tamarind Fruit Fiber Based Polymer Hybrid Composites on Characterization

Abstract

This paper deals with the preparation and characterization of epoxy tamarind fruit (Tf) and Sansevieria cylindrica (Sc) hybrid composites containing fiber 0:20, 5:15, 10:10, 15:5 and 20:0 of (Tf:Sc) combinations loading. Sansevieria cylindrica leaves were used in this paper for extracting fiber out of it and in the similar manner ripen Tamarind fruit was used to extract fiber. Two different fibers viz. tamarind fruit/ Sansevieria cylindrica fibers were loaded into the epoxy system to develop the hybrid composites. The tensile and flexural properties of the resulting 20 wt. % loading of Tf/Sc/epoxy hybrid composites were examined. The resulting hybrid composites of 20 wt. % Tf/Sc with varying combinations exhibit the optimum improvement of mechanical properties and dielectric strength. 2 °C rise in decomposition temperature and 5 °C rise glass transition temperature were observed from the TGA and DSC thermal analysis. The fractured cross sections of flexural samples were assessed their performance as a function of fiber loading of Tf/Sc/epoxy hybrid composites by SEM analysis.