Effect of Surface Modifications of Fiber on the Mechanical properties and Morphology of Poly(lactic acid) and Pineapple Leaf Fiber Composite

Abstract

The objective of this research was study on the effect of the addition of Pineapple Leaf Fiber (PALF) to reinforce polylactic acid (PLA)composite (PALF/PLA). This work aimed to study 1. effect of fiber surface modification by sodium hydroxide solution. 2. The effects of untreated and pretreated fiber on the mechanical properties. And the studies of SEM micrographs of surface treatment PALF and surface morphologies after mechanical tested. The result showed a rough surface while untreated PALF revealed less roughness. The tensile testing showed the tensile strength at break and percentile of elongation at break of PALF/PLA composite are lower than that of neat PLA. While the impact strength of composites are higher than neat PLA. The Mechanical properties of PALF/PLA composites are depend on the amount of fiber added into PLA and surface treatment of the fiber. Result from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed of the composite samples after mechanical testing showed more fiber pull out behavior of untreated fiber than the pretreated fiber composite sample.