Anatomical Structure of Pineapple Leaf Fiber

Abstract

The use of natural fibers, such as pineapple, sisal, banana, coir, sun hemp, mesta, or jute, in polymer composite materials has expanded fundamentally in recent years. Today, pineapple fiber is enormously popular among the composite research community due to its various advantages including its smoothed and scaled morphology, low thickness, firmness, reduced weight, and superior mechanical properties. In addition, pineapple fiber is completely/partially biodegradable and recyclable, cheap to produce, and easy to make. Its various mechanical testing characterization values, including tensile strength, spilt tensile strength, flexural strength, impact strength, peeling test, and compressive strength, represent benchmarks compared with other, currently available natural fibers. In this chapter we will extensively discuss the various anatomical structures of pineapple leaf fiber and the effects these have on thermal and mechanical characteristics—observed via scanning electron microscope imaging of surface morphology and the mechanical fracture patterns identified via Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and XRD. Consideration is given to external loading and molecular characterization and crystallography of pineapple fiber to better understand its mechanical and thermal behavior.