Remarkable improvement of failure strain of preferentially aligned short pineapple leaf fiber reinforced nitrile rubber composites with silica hybridization

Preferentially aligned short fiber reinforced nitrile rubber (NBR) composites with very high moduli at low elongation and high elongation at break were developed by using short and fine pineapple leaf fiber (PALF) and silica as the hybrid (two component) reinforcement. The amount of PALF was fixed at 10 parts (by weight) per hundred of rubber (phr) while that of silica was varied from 0 to 30 phr. Uniaxial NBR composites were prepared and tested for their mechanical properties in the directions both parallel and perpendicular to the fiber axis. Comparison was made against silica-NBR composites of the same total filler loadings. All composites with PALF display very distinct stress-strain curves. The stress rises sharply when the composite is stretched, while that of silica filled composites with the same loading rises gradually. The addition of silica initially lowers the early part of the stress-strain curve but prolongs breaking to greater strains. Further addition of silica raises the early part of the stress-strain curve back to and above that of the lower silica contents. It also significantly increases the elongation at break. Observation of other properties is also reported. Considering all the properties evaluated, reinforcement of NBR with PALF-silica hybrid shows great promise for engineering applications.