Flexural and Impact Properties of Elephant Grass Fiber Reinforced Polypropylene Composites

For Environmental concern on synthetic fibers (such as glass, carbon, ceramic fibers, etc.) natural fibers such as Sisal, flax, hemp, jute, kenaf etc. are widely used. In this research work, elephant grass fiber reinforced polypropylene matrix composites have been developed by injection molding technique with varying fiber percentages (0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25% by weight). The developed elephant grass fiber reinforced composites were then tested for their flexural and impact properties. The results show that flexural and impact properties increases with increase in the fiber percentage; however, after a certain fiber weight percentage, the properties are decreased. Elephant grass fiber introduced in the present study could be used as an effective reinforcement for making composites, which have an added advantage of being light weight.