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Static analysis on Malaysian Yankee’s pineapple leaf fiber/epoxy
composite
To cite this article: M I Najeeb et al 2019 IOP Conf. Ser.: Mater. Sci. Eng. 670 012032
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ICADME 2019 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 670 (2019) 012032 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/670/1/012032
Static analysis on Malaysian Yankee’s pineapple leaf
fiber/epoxy composite
M I Najeeb1, M T H Sultan1,2,3*, A U M Shah1,2 and S N A Safri2
1
Department of Aerospace Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra
Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
2
Laboratory of Biocomposite Technology, Institute of Tropical Forestry and Forest
Products (INTROP), Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor Darul
Ehsan, Malaysia
3
Aerospace Malaysia Innovation Centre (944751-A), Prime Minister’s Department,
MIGHT Partnership Hub, Jalan Impact, 63000 Cyberjaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan,
Malaysia
Abstract. The static analysis on pineapple leaf fibre (PALF) reinforced epoxy composites was
carried out in this study. The effect of fiber alignment in X and Y axis were studied while
maintaining total fiber loading of 10% by weight. The bending and compression strength were
analyzed by performing flexural and compression test. The composite properties was strongly
influence by the fiber orientation where Y axis shows improvement about 97% in bending and
5.3% in compressive strength compared to neat epoxy. However, as for X orientation bending
test shows lower bending strength compared to neat epoxy but improve 4% in compressive
strength. It can be concludedthat the fiber alignment in Y-direction is more suitable to be
utilized for automotive interior or household applications that demand high strength properties.
1. Introduction
In 2016, natural fiber composite market size was valued at USD 4.46 billion worldwide. It is expected
to grow 11.8 % of compound annual grow rate (CAGR) from 2016-2024 due awareness on
environment pollution and high demand for light weight component from automotive industry [1]. An
example of automotive interior component produced from natural materials is door panels that are
made from flax/sisal reinforce thermoset resin [2]. Among all natural fibers, pineapple leaf fibers
(PALF) is the best candidate to be used as reinforcement in composite as it shows superior mechanical
strength due to high cellulose content [3]. In Malaysia alone, there are more than 10 varieties of
pineapple namely Josapine, Sarawak, Moris Gajah, Yankee, Maspine, N36, etc which proves that
there are abundant of leaf waste that could be convert into sustainable materials. Previous study on
Josapine’s PALF on 30mm and 200mm fiber length reinforce composite shows that longer fiber had
higher bending strength [4]. Fiber length of 2,4 and 6 cm and loading of 50,60 and 70% of Josapine’s
PALF reinforce starch composites properties had been studied in term of tensile, flexural and hardness
[5]. Extend to this study, the author had varied the starch (75, 100 and 250 µm) size reinforce with
three different cultivars namely Josapine, Moris Gajah and Sarawak [6]. On top of that, in different
studies evaluation of 10% fiber (Moris Gajah, Maspine, Josapine and N36) loading reinforced
Polylactic acid composites had been done on tensile and flexural properties [7]. Besides, Josapine’s
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Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd 1
ICADME 2019 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 670 (2019) 012032 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/670/1/012032
PALF reinforced polypropylene composites with fixed 100mm length and different weight percentage
(30,40,50,60,70%wt) had investigated it’s tensile and hardness strength [8]. Author [9] concluded that
PALF had the credibility to be utilized in bio fuel and bio composites. However, there are none study
on Yankee’s PALF natural fiber composite. Previous studies had shown that different variety of plants
yield different properties. However, the potentials of the Yankee Pineapple variety in the composite
industry remains untapped to date. No studies had been carried out on the PALF natural fiber
composite drawn from the Yankee variant. This study is aimed at investigating the mechanical
properties of the leaf fiber of the new Malaysian pineapple variety in composite applications.
2. Material Preparation
The natural fiber employed in this study was pineapple leaf’s fiber (PALF) of Yankee variety
collected at Teluk Panglima Garang, Selangor, Malaysia. The pineapple leaf is collected after the
pineapple harvesting process and the age of the collected leaf is aged around 1-2 years old. The
collected leaf was then extracted mechanically at Universiti Tun Hussein Onn and the extracted fiber
was called as PALF. The PALF are then sun dried for 2 days to remove its water content. The dried
PALF are comb and stored in closed compartment to prevent absorption of water and contamination
from surrounding such as dust. Based on chemical composition analysis on this fiber, it was found out
there were cellulose (47.74%), hemicellulose (15.98%) and lignin (2.44%). The natural fiber
composite was fabricated by aligned the fiber continuously in one direction as shown in Figure 1. The
total fiber loading reinforcing in the matrix and thickness was fixed at 10% by weight and 4mm
respectively. A pure epoxy plate was also fabricated as control samples. Before the fabrication process
start, the surface of mould was wax for ease of removal. The ratio used for epoxy to hardener was 3:1
and was stir uniformly for 5 min which then was used to impregnated with the fiber in a mould. The
mould was cured by using hot press at 120°for 10minutes with a constant 250 bars. Directly after hot
press continue with cold press for 5 minutes with constant 250 bars. The composite was then cut
according to X and Y fiber alignment as shown in the Figure 1. Compression test was carried as per
ASTM D695 with dimension 12.7 x 12.7 x 4 mm and the cross speed 1.3mm/min. Flexural test was
carried out according to ASTM D7264 with standard span to thickness ratio of 32:1, width 13 mm
through three-point bending test using Universal Testing Machine (UTM). The rate of displacement
was set at 2mm/min. Morphology of tested composite sample were studied using scanning electron
microscope (SEM, Hitachi S3400N). The samples were sputter coated with gold for better
visualization.
Figure 1. Fiber alignment condition in fabricated specimen.
3. Results and Discussions
3.1 Flexural Analysis
Figure 2 shows flexural strength and flexural modulus for all the tested samples.
2
ICADME 2019 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 670 (2019) 012032 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/670/1/012032
Flexural Test
80 6000
Max Flexural Stress (MPa)
Modulus (MPa)
60
4000
40
2000
20
0 0
Neat Epoxy X-Direction Y-Direction
Max Flexural Stress (MPa) Modulus
Figure 2. Flexural strength of composite.
Composite made from fibre in Y-direction shows 93.7% improvement in flexural maximum stress
compared to neat epoxy. This shows that, PALF helps in transferring the load more effectively in
Y-axis throughout the composite, thus contribute to the total strength of the composite. Besides, the
Y-direction fiber composite shows the highest modulus indicate that it had the highest stiffness.
However, composite made from PALF in X-direction experience reduction 28.3% in strength to neat
epoxy maybe due to short distance stress distribution throughout the fiber end causing it to fail at
lower stress. Other reason could be contributed by low interfacial bonding between PALF as discussed
in morphology analysis section. The results of this research show that composite made from
Y-direction fiber alignment are comparable with other PALF composite as per Table 1 even though,
the fiber loading used is 10%. This shows that, the fiber alignment plays a huge role in contributing to
the overall composite strength. By considering both mentioned parameters in a composite fabrication,
fiber loading percentage can be optimized so that it is possible to achieve higher natural fiber
composite strength compared to synthetic composite.
Table 1. PALF Composite.
Fiber condition Layering Matrix Flexural strength Reference
method (MPa)
10%; continuous fiber Yankee’s PALF Y-direction Epoxy 68.13 Current
research
30%; length 30mm PALF(P) PPPPPP Polyester 107 [10]
40%; length 0.8-1mm Indonesia PALF Short fiber Phenolic 65 [11]
30%; length 30mm Josapine’s PALF Short fiber PLA 32 [4]
30%; length 200mm Josapine’s PALF Long Fiber PLA 52 [4]
3.2 Compression Analysis
Compression Test
65 2000
Modulus (MPa)
Compressive Strength
60 1000
at Yield (MPa)
55 0
Neat Epoxy X-Direction Y-Direction
Compressive Stress at Yield Modulus
Figure 3. Compressive strength of composite.
3
ICADME 2019 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 670 (2019) 012032 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/670/1/012032
Figure 3 shows that by adding 10% of Yankees PALF into the neat epoxy composite, helps to improve
the compressive strength up to 5.3% regardless of the fiber orientation. It also shows that the fiber
orientation in the matrix plays important role as it contribute to the matrix strength as well. Composite
made from fiber in Y direction shows 1.3% higher compressive strength compared to composite made
from fiber in X direction as shown in Figure 3. However, even though Y-direction fiber composite had
the highest compressive strength, the stiffness of the composite reduced compared to neat epoxy.
Previous study [12] shows that composite made from long pineapple fiber hybridised with woven
glass fiber (G/PY/PX/PY/G) epoxy composites had compressive strength of 64.4 MPa. The different of
compressive strength compared to composite made from fiber in Y direction in current study was only
2% lower. This shows that, the compressive strength is comparable even the current study did not do
any hybridisation process and without using any synthetic fiber. This shows that having right
orientation according to the load direction will help the stress distribution more effectively hence
increasing the strength of the composite.
3.3 Morphology Analysis
The morphology of fails flexural testing specimen were taken randomly and studied using SEM. From
the cross-section surface, Figure 4 shows there are small gap between the fiber-matrix (which as
shown by the arrow) and fiber pull out. This mean there are some part of fiber that are not properly
merge with the matrix or it is not strong enough to hold the load causing it to shear hence creating the
gap. The gap shows there were limited bonding between fiber and matrix as fiber had hydrophilic
nature properties while the matrix had hydrophobic properties resulting to poor interfacial bonding
[13-17].
Figure 4. Cross section crack from flexural test.
Conclusion
Generally, the addition of PALF in epoxy matrix help increasing the composite strength. The
orientation of fiber in matrix plays an important role in absorbing the external stress. Composite made
from Y-direction fiber orientation were the best configuration in this study where the maximum
bending and compressive stress that it can hold before it fails were 68.13 MPa and 63.3 MPa
respectively. From morphology analysis by SEM, it can be concluded that the interfacial bonding
fiber-matrix play a vital role in contributing to the composite mechanical properties.
Acknowledgment
This work is supported by UPM under HICoE grant, 6369107 and Newton Fund, 6300896. The
authors would like to express their gratitude and sincere appreciation to the Department of Aerospace
Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia and Laboratory of Biocomposite
Technology, Institute of Tropical Forestry and Forest Products (INTROP), Universiti Putra Malaysia
(HiCOE) for the close collaboration in this research.
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ICADME 2019 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 670 (2019) 012032 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/670/1/012032
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