Mechanical, thermal, and water absorption properties of hybrid short coconut tree primary flower leaf stalk fiber/glass fiber-reinforced unsaturated polyester composites for biomedical applications

Composites reinforced with fibers of natural or synthetic materials are gaining attention to meet the demands for lightweight materials. This present investigation focused to examine the behavior of natural fiber short alkaline treated coconut tree primary flower leaf stalk fiber (CF) and short raw glass fiber (GF) reinforced with unsaturated polyester resin for bio-medical applications. For the characterization analysis, the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to find the presence of the material for the CF, and the microstructure of CF was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy. The composites were produced with various weight percentages of GF and CF. Tensile, flexural, and impact strength were studied to understand the influence of mechanical properties of produced hybrid composites and 7C10G20C composition provides the maximum mechanical properties of 44.56 MPa, 70.56 MPa, and 8.36 kJ/m², respectively. Thermo-gravimetric analyses of the 7C10G20C sample were observed residual masses of 21%. The water absorption test of 7C10G20C absorbs low water absorption of 3.469 g compared to 7C20G10C. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) morphological analysis of 7C10G20C composite portrays less fiber breakdown, which confirms the higher tensile property of hybrid composites. Therefore, it has been observed that only limited attention has been given to polymer resin filled with a combination of short coconut tree primary flower leaf stalk fiber (CF) and glass fiber (GF). This research work suggests a way to manufacture a natural fiber polyester matrix composite for light-load applications of wall roofs, floor mats, seatbacks door panels, window frames, and molded panel components and also light load applications of medical equipment shell and machining covers, etc.