Novel Hybrid Structural Biocomposites from Alkali Treated-Date Palm and Coir Fibers: Morphology, Thermal and Mechanical Properties

Abstract

In this concern study, the surging demands for regulating the environmental aspects associated with controlling a massive generated synthetic wastes in the field of structural applications, has motivated researchers to synthesize green products using agricultural wastes. Therefore, in this work, a novel hybrid epoxy composites based on alkali treated-date palm fiber and native coir fiber at different weight fractions were prepared using hand layup technique and investigated the hybridization effect of the resultant composites. Hybrid composites were characterized using several analytical techniques i.e. X-ray diffraction analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, contact angle measurement, dart impact test and tensile test. Reported results explored that the alkali treatment on date palm fiber had a reliable impact on the experimentally evaluated mechanical, hydrophobic and thermal properties of the resultant hybrid composites. The required structural properties for 50 wt% coir fiber incorporated in 50 wt% treated-date palm fiber based epoxy composites are 76.51 MPa tensile strength, 2.77% elongation limit, 832.2 J/m impact strength, and 100.2° contact angle, respectively possess highest value as compared to all other hybrid composites. Hence, the incorporation of 50 wt% treated-date palm fiber in 50 wt% coir fiber based epoxy composite has the best structural properties in terms of mechanical, water resistant and thermal properties for green rigid applications.