Influence of interfacial adhesion on the mechanical properties and fracture behaviour of short sisal fibre reinforced polymer composites

The mechanical properties of sisal fibre composites (randomly oriented) of several thermoset resin matrices, [polyester, epoxy, phenol-formaldehyde] and a thermoplastic matrix [low density polyethylene (LDPE)] were evaluated with respect to fibre length and fibre loading. All the composites showed a general trend of increase in properties with fibre loading. However, the optimum length of the fibre required to obtain an increase in properties...