Mechanical characterization of randomly oriented short Sansevieria Trifasciata natural fibre composites

Abstract The present work investigates the mechanical characteristics of randomly oriented short Sansevieria Trifasciata Fibre Polyester (STFP) composites. The STFP composites are fabricated using compression moulding methods with varying fibre weight percentages (5 %–50 %) and fibre lengths (5 mm–50 mm). It has been observed that the impact, flexural, and tensile strength of STFPs improve as the length of the fibre increases, up to a maximum of 40 mm. After that, these properties start to decrease as the length of the fibre further increases. Further, the analysis revealed that STFPs exhibited an increase in properties when the fibre weight percentage was less than 40 %, followed by a decrease in properties as the fibre percentage increased beyond that point. The impact strength of STFP is around 8.2 J/cm2. Similarly, the STFP has a flexural modulus and strength of about 3.4 GPa and 82.6 MPa, respectively. Lastly, the tensile strength of STFP is around 78.26 MPa, the elongation at break is between 6.25 % and 9.36 %, and the Young’s modulus is 11.8 GPa. The matrix and fibre interaction were examined by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Furthermore, Thermogravimetric (TGA) and Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC) analyses are carried out. From these analyses, the thermal stability of STFP is 200 °C and its activation energy is 65.48 kJ/mol. After a thorough comparison with other well-known natural fibres, the proposed properties of STFP demonstrate its superiority as a practical and effective natural fibre composite.