Combined Effect of Alkali and Silane Treatments on Tensile and Impact Properties of Roystonea Regia Natural Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Composites

摘要

Effect of fiber content and combined effect of alkali and silane coupling agent treatments on tensile and impact properties of unidirectional roystonea regia natural fiber reinforced epoxy based partially bio degradable composites is reported. The reinforcement roystonea regia fiber was collected from the foliage of royal palm tree. To overcome the problems of poor fiber/matrix interface bonding, alkali and silane treatments have been applied to fibers to process the composites. Alkali treatment has been found to be more effective in improving the tensile properties than the silane treatment; however mixed treatment further slightly improved the properties. In general, the impact strength of all the treated fiber composites decreased compared to the untreated fiber composites; however, the silane treated fiber composites have shown higher impact strength followed by alkali treated fiber composites. Morphology of composites examined by scanning electron microscopy has also been reported.