Performance and Mechanical Characterization of Tufted and Untufted Woven Pine Apple Leaf Fibre Reinforced with Poly Lactic Acid Green Composites

Abstract

This study examines the impact of through-the-thickness tufted natural Woven Pineapple leaf fibres on the tensile and flexural characteristics of sandwich structures. The tufting process seeks to improve the performance of a sandwich structure by ignoring the delamination between the skin and core. Strengthen sandwich structure interlaminations and make them more resistant to damage. This project focuses on creating and implementing an efficient through-the-thickness reinforcing technique based on hand tufting reinforcement. Totally seven specimens were fabricated six tufted and one untufted specimen. Samples that were tufted had three distinct tufting distances (10, 20, and 30 mm, respectively) and two different angle orientations (450,900). An empirical study was developed that comprised tensile and flexural testing of the tufted and untufted sandwich panels formulate of natural pineapple leaf fiber reinforced with Polylactic acid in order to evaluate the impact of tufting on sandwich structure. The outcome displays the fabrication-specific mechanical characteristics of composite laminates. In the tensile mechanical test, the strength of the tufted specimen (450,900) increased by 17% and 34%, respectively, in comparison to the untufted specimen. According to the results of the flexural test, the highest flexural strength for a tufted specimen is between 35% and 67% when compared to an untufted specimen. This indicates that the tufting was successful in enhancing both the in-plane and out-of-plane mechanical properties of composites. Finally, the fracture surface of the tested specimens is examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM).