Sustainable fiber extraction and determination of mechanical and wear properties of Borassus flabellifer sprout fiber-reinforced polymer composites

Composite materials remain as the preferred source for the material engineers to develop light weight products for domestic and industrial applications. The prime objective of this study was to find the mechanical and wear properties of the polymer composites reinforced using fibers extracted from the underground sprouts of Borassus flabellifer. Extraction of fibers was done by heating the sprouts in normal water. Hot water produced easy fibrillation of the fibers within a very short period of time. Also there is no need for any sophistication equipments and post-treatment. Composite samples were fabricated using isophthalic acid-based unsaturated polymer resin as matrix and varying wt% (5, 15, 25, 35, and 45) of these fibers. Optimum tensile strength, flexural strength, and impact strength of 17.6 ± 0.72 MPa, 50.2 ± 0.15 MPa, and 1.18 ± 0.21 J respectively were achieved with 35 wt% fiber loading. Wear studies conducted on the samples exhibited co-efficient of friction and specific wear rate as 0.52 and 0.024 mm³/Nm respectively. The fibers exemplified worthy interfacial adhesion with the matrix. The study proved an efficient, cost effective, green fiber extraction technique and Borassus flabellifer sprout fibers are found to be potential polymeric reinforcements for the fabrication of composites.