This paper studied the thermal behaviour of pineapple leaf fibre (PALF) reinforced high impact polystyrene (HIPS) composite. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) analysis were used to measure the thermal characteristic of HIPS/PALF composites. In particular, the TGA analysis was utilized to measure the degradation and decomposition of materials in neat polystyrene, pineapple fibre, and the composites. The measurements were carried out in the temperature of 25°C – 800°C, at a heating rate of 20°C min-1 and the nitrogen gas flow was 50 mL min-1. The temperature of the DSC analysis was programmed to be between 25°C – 300°C. The results from TGA analysis show that the addition of pineapple fibre has improved the thermal stability of the composites as compared to neat HIPS. In addition, the effects of compatibilising agent and surface modification of PALF with alkali treated were also determined and compared.
The physical properties by natural fibre have a great importance, specifically in the structural of natural fibre which reinforces matrix. Response surface methodology with Box-Behnken (BB) design of experiment was utilized to study water absorption and melt flow index (MFI) of abaca fibre reinforced high impact polystyrene (HIPS) composites. The design utilizes fraction of weight abaca fibre, maleic anhydride (MAH), and impact modifier to develop models for characteristic behaviours of water absorption and MFI of composites. Abaca fibre reinforced high impact polystyrene (HIPS) composites were produced with different fibre loadings (30, 40, and 50 wt%), different compositions of coupling agent, maleic anhydried (MAH) (1, 2, and 3 wt%) and different compositions of impact modifier (4, 5, 6 wt%). The individual optimum of water absorption was found when loading abaca fibre close to 34.61 wt%, maleic anhydride 1 wt%, and impact modifier 4.01 wt%. The individual optimum of melt flow index dealt with loading abaca fibre 36.71 wt%, maleic anhydride 3 wt% and impact modifier 4.02 wt%. Meanwhile, the optimum condition for water absorption of abaca fibre reinforced HIPS composites was followed by a decreasing trend of the value of melt flow index.