A Comparative Study between Commercially Available Type 1 Plywood and Plymer, a HDPE and Pineapple Leaves Composite

Abstract

Pineapple in the Philippines, with an annual production rate of more than 2 million tons, is ranked the third largest pineapple producing country in the world, with 172,000 acres dedicated to its production. Under this scenario, pineapple is a subtropical fruit with a considerably higher proportion of by-products consisting of peels, stems and leaves, leading to a high production of agricultural waste. In particular, pineapple leaves fiber as one of the most abundant by-products rich in cellulose. The researchers compared the properties and composition of commercially available type 1 plywood to a mixture of high density polyethylene plastic chips with dried pineapple leaves called Plymer. The ratio of the Plymer was 80 % HDPE and 20 % leaves. The series of tests carried out by DOST-FPRDI were screw removal, static bending and tensile strength. The researchers used the statistical tooltest to compare the results of the test. In conclusion, Plymer is the best option for static bending and tensile strength testing.