Investigation of physical, Di-electric and hydrophobicity properties of roystonea regia/banana fibre polyester composites in both alkali treated and untreated conditions

Abstract

Natural fibre-based hybrid composites have attracted a lot of attention in recent years due to their potential as environmentally friendly substitutes for synthetic fibres. When two or more types of natural fibres are combined to form a hybrid, the resulting material can have novel electrical properties. The study of Roystonea Regia fibre with other natural fibres as hybridization is very scarce, so in this context, the physical, di-electric and hydrophobicity properties of Roystonea Regia/Banana fibre hybrid composites have been studied. Experiments are conducted to demonstrate the dielectric strength, hardness, and hydrophobicity of polyester composites reinforced with a hybrid of Roystonea-Regia fibres and banana fibres in both treated and untreated conditions. This goal is reached through the fabrication of hybrid composites with varying proportions via the hand-lay-up technique and subsequent testing. The composition of 15% Roystonea-Regia alkali-treated polyester composites has a dielectric strength of 2.5 kV mm−1 in air, which is much lower than that of the untreated composites, which is 12.2 kV mm−1. Due to the increase in soaking time, percentage of hydroxyl group in treated fibres increases, which in turn reduced the dielectric strength. And also, the dielectric constant and electrical conductivity vary with the change in frequency. The alkali-treated fibre shows an increase in Shore D hardness when compared with the untreated fibres. The highest contact angle of 88.85° for 10% Roystonea-Regia fibre and 5% Banana fibre was observed, whereas the lowest contact angle of 65.14° was observed for 5% Roystonea-Regia fibre and 10% Banana fibre.