Study on the engineering properties of abaca/hemp/kenaf natural fiber mats reinforced with Anogeissus latifolia, polyester resin, and fly ash nano powder nanocomposites

Abstract

The nano-biocomposites are the combination of natural and synthetic fibers, and they are indeed the most promising materials for many industrial applications. In the present study, the reinforcement Anogeissus latifolia (AL) gum powder of 40% is mixed with polyester (P) of 60% to produce a unique hybrid polyester (ALP) resin matrix; the same is fed with three different volume fractions of 1%, 3%, and 5% fly ash nano powder (FANP) as a binding agent. These compositions were applied to abaca (AB), hemp (HE), and kenaf (KE) mats to produce the individual three layers biocomposite fibers. According to experiment results, the untreated AB fiber mats supplemented with ALP matrix resin at 3% vol% of FANP have better compression and flexural strengths measuring 39.2 MPa and 168.2 MPa, respectively Furthermore, thermal conductivity, hybrid resins, and nano-biocomposites are subjected to thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) analyses.