Unsaturated polyester composites reinforced with fiber and powder of peach palm: Mechanical characterization and water absorption profile

The new standard in preserving the environment has contributed to increase in the interest in the substitution of synthetic fibers by natural fibers. In this context, polymeric composites with biofibers appear to be a good alternative for engineering applications. The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of bi-dimensional orientation of leaf stalk fibers from peach palm in impact, tensile strength behavior and water absorption profile of polyester/fiber reinforced composites. Samples reinforced with peach palm powder and weave were processed by hand lay up technique. Composites with only weave presented similar results to the composite with 10% (w/w) of only fiber in the three tensile properties analyzed and better results than the composites with both weave and powder, indicating that oriented fibers give better mechanical properties than randomly oriented fibers. The Izod impact data obtained for the composites with only weave were considerably superior to that of composites containing only powder, suggesting that the reinforcement in the form of powder is inefficient, independent of the size range of the particles used. The composite with only weave shows moderately good water resistance compared to the composite with weave and powder. The influence of particle size in water gain percentage had distinct behavior. The micrographs of the fractured surface specimens revealed a reasonable interaction between the reinforcement and matrix.