THERMOGRAVIMETRIC AND DYNAMIC-MECHANICAL THERMAL-ANALYSIS OF PINEAPPLE FIBER-REINFORCED POLYETHYLENE COMPOSITES

The thermal behaviour of pineapple leaf fibre (PALF) reinforced polyet hylene composites was studied by thermogravimetric and dynamic mechani cal thermal analysis. Fibre treatment was carried out using isocyanate , silane and peroxide to improve the interfacial adhesion between fibr e and matrix. The effects of fibre loading and surface modification on the thermal properties were evaluated. It was found that at high temp erature PALF degrades before the polyethylene matrix. The storage modu lus increased with increase of fibre loading and decreased with increa se of temperature. The treated fibre composites impart better properti es compared to untreated system. Tan delta showed a distinct peak at l ow temperature ascribed to the glass transition temperature of polyeth ylene but no peak was observed for PALF fibre. The relative damping in creased with fibre loading. Cole-Cole analysis was made to understand the phase behaviour of the composite samples.