Variation of Pineapple Leaf Fiber (Ananas comosus) Volume Fraction as Composite Reinforcement on Flexural and Tensile Strength

Abstract

The heavy and expensive characteristics of metals encourage the development of non -metallic materials, especially natural fiber reinforced materials, which are lighter, more flexible, resistant to rust, and more economical. This material can also compete with artificial fiber materials, such as organic fiber composites. Natural fiber composites are widely used. One natural fiber that is easy to obtain and has abundant availability is fiber from pineapple leaves (Ananas comosus). This research aims to determ ine the variation of volume fraction in the flexural and tensile strength of composites reinforced with pineapple leaf fiber. In this research, nanas leaf fiber was used. The fiber was soaked in 5% NaOH for 2 hours. Using resin. The composite was made using pineapple leaf fiber cut into 1 cm lengths and arranged randomly using a manual layering method, with fiber of 10%, 20%, 30%. Tensile testing composites use ASTM D638 standards, and flexural tests use ASTM D790-03 standards. After testing, the results obtained from the tensile test and flexural test were the highest at a variation of 30% with an average value of (0.0129 GPa) and a tensile flexural test of (0.0321GPa). Increasing the volume fraction causes a reduction in matrix flow therefore the strengt h of the composite will increase. increases and increases the fiber's contribution in resisting tensile and bending loads.