Influence of UV Radiation on Mechanical Properties of PVC Composites Reinforced with Pineapple Fiber

Pineapple fiber reinforced polyvinyl chloride (PVC) composites (25-75% fiber by weight) were fabricated using compression molding technique and the mechanical properties such as tensile strength (TS), tensile modulus (TM), bending strength (BS), bending modulus (BM) and impact strength (IS) of the composites were evaluated. It was found that at 55% fiber content, the composite exhibited the best mechanical properties. The TS, TM, BS, BM and IS were found to be 48.8 MPa, 773 MPa, 75.6 MPa, 4.2 GPa, 21.4 KJ/m2 for 55% fiber composite. The composites were exposed to different intensities of ultraviolet (UV) radiation (25-200 UV dose) and found significant improvement in the mechanical properties up to 100 UV dose. At 100 UV dose, the value of TS, TM, BS, BM and IS of the composite were found to be 57.3 MPa, 932 MPa, 87.5 MPa, 5.2 GPa and 26.3 KJ/m2 respectively. Water uptake behaviours of the non-irradiated and UV irradiated composites were also observed. The interfacial property was examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM).