Physical, mechanical and thermal properties of sugar palm yarn fibre loading on reinforced unsaturated polyester composites

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the performance of sugar palm yarn fibre reinforced unsaturated polyester composites. The effect of sugar palm fibre yarn loading on the physical (density, voids and water absorption analysis), mechanical (tensile, flexural and impact analysis) and thermal (TGA) properties of composites were investigated. Composites with different sugar palm fibre yarn loadings (10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 wt%) were prepared using the hand layup method. Results showed that the determination of composite density indicates void determination, much of which is related to an increase in fibre loadings. Determination of water absorption at various loadings revealed that the percentage of water absorption increases as fibre loading increases. Water absorption reached equilibrium absorption on day 12. Tensile strength, tensile modulus, flexural strength and flexural modulus show increments up to 30 wt% of fibre loadings. Elongation at break showed an increasing trend up to 50 wt% of fibre loading. Furthermore, impact strength of the 40 wt% fibre loadings sample showed the highest impact energy in resisting the fractures among all samples. The addition of sugar palm decreases the thermal stability of the entire system.