Abstract
Natural fibers are very versatile materials; their properties vary with chemical composition to physical structure. The present study deals with the incorporation of different ratios pineapple leaf fiber and kenaf fiber into a phenolic resin to develop hybrid composites. Incorporation of pineapple fibers in kenaf composites are supposed to improve the thermal properties due to higher cellulosic content of pineapple fibers and thermal characterization are studied by thermo‐gravimetric analysis, dynamic mechanical analysis and thermo‐mechanical analysis. Thermo‐gravimetric of 7P3K displayed lowest percentage of weight decomposition and highest residue indicated thermal stability among all the composites. The storage modulus showed decreasing trend with increasing temperature for all the hybrid composites due to constituents of natural fibers. Among all hybrid composites 3P7K hybrid composite showed highest storage modulus and loss modulus at 55.13°C and 101.68°C, respectively. The recorded peak heights of tan δ were minimum for 1P1K (128°C) and maximum for 7P3K hybrid composites (137°C). The Cole–Cole graph determines the heterogeneity of the hybrid composites. Thermo‐mechanical analysis was used to investigate the coefficient of thermal expansion and the mechanical stability of the composites against increasing temperature. Overall results showed that the hybridization of pineapple fibers and kenaf revealed various thermal properties on various fiber ratios. However, 7P3K improves the thermal stability of the obtained material, whereas the 3P7K hybrid composite showed the highest dynamic mechanical properties among all the hybrid composites. 7P3K improved the thermal properties due to presence of cellulosic content whereas 3P7K improved the dynamic mechanical analysis due to better interfacial bonding. POLYM. COMPOS., 40:3814–3822, 2019. © 2019 Society of Plastics Engineers
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