Development of Reinforced Composites from Areca Fibres

Use of natural fiber as reinforcement is a burgeoning field of research because of the ease of procuring raw materials, bio-degradable and environment friendly nature along with mechanical properties of the resulting composites that are comparable to synthetic fiber-reinforced composites. Areca owing to these very reasons along with low cost, light-weight further advocated by its tensile strength has pervaded the field of composite manufacturing. Different natural fibers have been used by many researchers for the development of bio-composites, but areca leaf fibers as a feasible fiber has seldom been researched or spoken about. The development and study of mechanical behavior of a natural fiber reinforced epoxy composite of areca fiber with different configuration of areca fiber orientation has been discussed herein. The factors considered for areca fibres have been youngs modulus, specific modulus, tensile strength, specific modulus and are found to be greater than those for the popular coir fibre. Another important aspect considered is the sheath fibre angle of orientation of the composite.