Composites Science and Technology 61 (2001) 1303–1310

www.elsevier.com/locate/compscitech

The influence of fibre treatment on the performance

of coir-polyester composites
J. Rout a, M. Misra b, S.S. Tripathy a, S.K. Nayak c, A.K. Mohanty b,*
a
Polymer and Composite Laboratory, Post Graduate Department of Chemistry, Ravenshaw College (Autonomous), Cuttack 753003, Orissa, India
b
Composite Materials and Structures Center, Michigan State University, 2100 Engineering Building, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
c
Central Institute of Plastic Engineering and Technology, B-25, CNI Complex, Patia, Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India

Received 19 June 2000; received in revised form 18 January 2001; accepted 13 February 2001

Abstract
Surface modifications of coir fibres involving alkali treatment, bleaching, and vinyl grafting are made in view of their use as
reinforcing agents in general-purpose polyester resin matrix. The mechanical properties of composites like tensile, flexural and
impact strength increase as a result of surface modification. Among all modifications, bleached (65
C) coir-polyester composites
show better flexural strength (61.6 MPa) whereas 2% alkali-treated coir/polyester composites show significant improvement in
tensile strength (26.80 MPa). Hybrid composites comprising glass fibre mat (7 wt.%), coir fibre mat (13 wt.%) and polyester resin
matrix are prepared. Hybrid composites containing surface modified coir fibres show significant improvement in flexural strength.
Water absorption studies of coir/polyester and hybrid composites show significant reduction in water absorption due to surface
modifications of coir fibres. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) investigations show that surface modifications improve the fibre/
matrix adhesion. # 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Surface modification; Coir-polyester composite; Hybrid composite; Mechanical properties; Water absorption

1. Introduction lignocellulosic based fibres [2]. The efficiency of a fibre-

Growing environmental awareness throughout the
world has triggered a paradigm shift towards designing
materials compatible with the environment. The use of
biofibres, derived from annually renewable resources, as
reinforcing fibres in both thermoplastic and thermoset
matrix composites provide positive environmental ben-
efits with respect to ultimate disposability and raw
material utilization [1]. The advantages of natural lig-
nocellulosic fibres over traditional reinforcing materials
such as glass fibres, talc and mica are acceptable specific
strength properties, low cost, low density, non-
abrasivity, good thermal properties, enhanced energy
recovery, and biodegradability. The main bottle necks
in the broad use of these natural fibres in various poly-
mer matrixes are poor compatibility between the fibres
and the matrix, and the inherent high moisture absorp-
tion, which brings about dimensional changes in the
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-517-353-5466; fax: +1-432-1634.
E-mail address: mohantya@egr.msu.edu (A.K. Mohanty).
0266-3538/01/$ - see front matter # 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S0266-3538(01)00021-5
reinforced composite depends on the fibre/matrix inter-
face and the ability to transfer stress from the matrix to
the fibre. This stress transfer efficiency plays a dominant
role in determining the mechanical properties of the
composite.
In natural lignocellulosic fibres, cellulose is the main
component. The elementary unit of a cellulose macro-
molecule is anhydro-d-glucose, which contains three
hydroxyls (OH). These hydroxyls form hydrogen
bonds inside the macromolecule itself (intra-molecular)
and also with hydroxyl groups from moist air. There-
fore, all natural fibres are hydrophilic in nature and
their moisture content can reach 3–13% [3]. The inter-
nal adhesion can be improved by modifying the surface
topology of fibres by a suitable pre-treatment or by
selecting the proper components of the bonding system.
Coir is an important lignocellulosic fibre obtained
from coconut trees which grow extensively in tropical
countries. Because of its hard-wearing quality, dur-
ability and other advantages, it is used for making a
wide variety of floor furnishing materials, yarn, rope etc
[4]. However, these traditional coir products consume
1304 J. Rout et al. / Composites Science and Technology 61 (2001) 1303–1310
only a small percentage of the potential total world
production of coconut husk. Hence, research and
development efforts have been underway to find new use
areas for coir, including utilization of coir as reinforce-
ment in polymer composites [5–11]. Unfortunately, the
performance of coir as a reinforcement in polymer
composites is unsatisfactory and not comparable even
with other natural fibres due to its low cellulose content
(36–43%), high lignin content (41–45%) and high
microfibrillar angle. Morphological studies of coir fibres
show the outer sheath of lignin that develop the cellu-
lose ultimates. The removal of this surface layer of lig-
nin usually results in a better and more stable bond.
Keeping in view the above facts in our present investi-
gation, we have chosen alkali treatment, bleaching and
graft copolymerization as surface treatments for coir
fibres in order to obtain better adhesion of these fibres
with the polyester resin. The mechanical properties like
tensile, flexural and impact strength of coir-polyester
and hybrid composites are determined. The improved
fibre-matrix adhesion has been examined by scanning
electron microscopy (SEM).
2. Experimental
2.1. Materials
Bristol coir fibres were collected from Aerocom Indus-
try Pvt. Ltd., Orissa, India. General purpose polyester
resin (FB-333), methyl ethyl ketone peroxide (MEKP)
and cobalt napthenate were obtained from Ruia Chemi-
cals Pvt. Ltd., Calcutta, India. Acrylonitrile (AN) has
been purified according to the usual procedure [12]. Che-
micals and solvents like sodium hydroxide, ethanol,
benzene, copper sulphate, sodium periodate, sodium
chlorite and sodium bisulfite were of AnalaR grade and
were used without further purification.
2.2. Methods of surface modification
The coir fibres were first scoured with hot detergent
solution (2%) at 70
C for 1 h and washed with distilled
water and finally dried in vacuum oven at 70
C. The
fibres were then extracted in a 1:2 mixture of ethanol and
benzene for 72 h to dewax the sample, followed by wash-
ing with distilled water and air drying. The fibres thus
obtained were known as dewaxed or deffated fibres.
The defatted fibres were treated with NaOH solution
of varying concentrations (2–10%) for 1 h at 300
C with
occasional shaking followed by washing with distilled
water for several times to leach out the absorbed alkali.
The fibres were dried and treated as alkali treated fibres.
Alkali treated coir fibres (5%) were subjected to graft
copolimerization with AN using Cu2+–IO 4 combina-
tion as initiator in an aqueous medium [13].
Bleaching of deffated fibres was done by the following
process: the fibres were carefully kept in 0.7% textone
(sodium chlorite) solution in the liquor ratio 50:1 buffered
by 1% acetic acid and sodium acetate solution at pH 4
and temperature range 65–85
C for 2 h. The bleached
fibres were then carefully and thoroughly washed with
2% sodium bisulfite (antichlor) for 15 min at room tem-
perature followed by washing with distilled water and
finally air dried. The colour change of fibre from dark
brown to silvery white was observed due to removal of
lignin.
2.3. Composite fabrication and testing
Non-woven aligned mats (8.500 8.500 ) were used for
composite fabrication with polyester resin in a close
mold. First, the mold was polished and then mold
releasing agent was applied on the surface. General pur-
pose polyester resin was mixed with 1 wt.% cobalt
naphtenate (accelerator) and 1 wt.% methyl ethyl ketone
peroxide (catalyst). The resin mixture was degassed in a
vacuum desicator and then poured on to the mat placed
in the mold. When the mat was completely wet by the
resin, the mold was closed, pressed and cured at room
temperature for 24 h. For hybrid composites a glass mat
(8.500 8.500 ) was uniformly coated with polyester resin
mixture (containing accelerator and catalyst) and placed
on the mold. A nonwoven coir mat was placed on this
and was coated with the resin. A second glass mat
coated with resin solution was then placed on top of the
coir mat and a slight pressure was applied with a steel
roller to remove the entrapped air. The mold, then
closed, received slight pressure and was cured at room
temperature for 24 h.
Tensile and flexural tests of the composite specimens
were carried out at 23
C and 55% RH using UTM
(Universal Testing machine) LR-100K, Lloyds Instru-
ment Ltd., UK as per ASTM-D638, at a cross head speed
of 100 mm/min, gauge length 50 mm and ASTM-D 790,
at a cross head speed of 2.8 mm/min, gauge length of 100
mm, respectively. The notched izod impact energy was
determined by impactometer (CEAST Italy) as per
ASTM-256. All the results were taken as the average
value of five samples.
2.4. Water absorption
The water absorption test of the coir-polyester and
hybrid composites was carried out as per ASTM D-570
method.
2.5. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
The surfaces of the fractured specimens under tensile
and impact tests were examined using a scanning elec-
tron microscope (SEM) Jeol JSM-T 330 A. All specimens
 J. Rout et al. / Composites Science and Technology 61 (2001) 1303–1310
were sputtered with a 10 nm thick layer of gold prior to
SEM observations.
3. Results and discussion
Coir/polyester composites with 17 wt.% of fibre
loading was prepared to investigate the effect of surface
modifications on mechanical properties like tensile
strength (TS), flexural strength (FS) and impact strength
(IS) of composites. We have reported earlier that coir-
polyester composites with 17–25 wt.% of coir fibres show
optimum mechanical properties [14]. While studying the
effects of various surface modifications of coir fibres on
mechanical properties of coir/polyester composites,
untreated coir-polyester composite was taken as stan-
dard material for comparison.
3.1. Effect of alkali treatment
The effect of alkali treatment (2–10%) of coir fibres on
TS and FS of composites (containing 17% fibre by weight)
can be readily assessed from Fig. 1. NaOH (2%) treated
fibre polyester composites improve the TS and FS by 26
and 15%, respectively, in comparison to untreated fibre
polyester composites. With further increase in NaOH
concentration from 2 to 5%, the TS decreases whereas FS
increases in comparison to 2% NaOH treated fibre
Fig. 1. Effect of alkali treatment on TS and FS of coir-polyester composite.
1305
composites. The 5% NaOH treated fibre composite
improves the FS by 17% in comparison to untreated
fibre composite. For 10% NaOH treated fibre compo-
sites, both the TS and FS decrease. The enhancement in
mechanical properties in alkali treated (2 and 5%) fibre
composites is attributed to the improved wetting of
alkali treated coir with polyester [8]. Morphological
studies of untreated coir fibre surfaces shows that the
surface contains globular protrusions at regular inter-
vals [15]. Voids are produced on the surface of coir by
NaOH treatment as a result of the removal of these
globular protrusions which would increase the mechan-
ical interlocking between the fibre and the polyester resin.
The decrease in mechanical properties in the case of 10%
alkali treated fibre composites may be due to cell wall
thickening which leads to poor adhesion with polyester
resin.
The impact strength of untreated and NaOH treated
(2–10%) coir-polyester composites (17 wt.% fibre load-
ing) is shown in Table 1. With incorporation of 2%
NaOH treated fibre, the IS increases from 433.5 J/m
(untreated) to 521.9 J/m and with further increase in
NaOH concentration (5%) increases the IS to 634.6 J/
m. This large increase in IS is due to toughness of the
coir fibres [14]. At still higher NaOH concentration
(10%), the IS decreases in comparison to 2 and 5%
NaOH treated fibre composites but the value is higher
than the IS value of untreated fibre composite.
1306 J. Rout et al. / Composites Science and Technology 61 (2001) 1303–1310

3.2. Effect of bleaching composites. This is attributed to lowering of the fibre

tensile strength due to loss of the cementing material
The effect of bleaching of coir fibres on TS and FS of (lignin) which results in a decrease in TS of coir-polye-
coir-polyester composites (17 wt.% fibre) is shown in ster composites. But the bleached fibre polyester compo-
Fig. 2. The bleached coir-polyester composites show a sites show better FS than the untreated fibre composite.
slight reduction in TS in comparison to untreated fibre Coir fibres bleached at 65
C show an increase in FS by
 20% in respect of composite. Bleached fibres (at 75
Table 1 and 85
C) also show an improvement in FS in compar-
Effect of surface modification on IS of coir-polyester and glass/coir- ison to untreated fibre polyester composite but these
polyester hybrid composites
values are lower than the FS of bleached fibre (65
C)
Surface Impact strength (J/m) polyester composite. Similar results have also been
modification reported in the literature for bleached jute polyester
Coir-polyester Glass/coir-polyester
composite [16]. The improved FS may be due to less
hybrid
stiffness and more flexible character of the fibres after
Untreated 433.5 576.0 delignification. The bending forces (flexural) are better
propagated along the longitudinal direction of the fibres
Alkali treatment
Alkali treated (2%) 521.9 –
in case of bleached coir-polyester composites. This may
Alkali treated (5%) 634.6 687.8 again due to high fibre-matrix bonding strength in
Alkali treated (10%) 494.7 – bleached fibre composites.
The effect of bleaching of coir fibres on IS of resulting
Bleaching composites (17 wt.% fibre content) is shown in Table 1.
Bleached (65
C) 458.3 593.0
Bleached (75
C) 425.2 –
The improvement in IS may be due to better wetting of
Bleached (85
C) 389.8 – bleached fibres with polyester resin.

AN-grafting 3.3. Effect of grafting

AN-grafted (5%) 477.0 –
AN-grafted (10%) 596.3 629.8
AN-grafted (15%) 189.7 –
Fig. 3 represents the effect of AN-grafting (varying
from 5 to 15%) onto coir fibres on TS and FS of the

Fig. 2. Effect of bleaching temperature (
C) on TS and FS of coir-polyester composite.

 J. Rout et al. / Composites Science and Technology 61 (2001) 1303–1310 1307

Fig. 3. Effect of AN-grafting on TS and FS of coir-polyester composite.

Fig. 4. Effect of surface modification on TS and FS of glass/coir-hybrid composite: A, untreated; B, alkali treated (5%); C, AN-grafted (10%); D,
bleached (65
C).
1308 J. Rout et al. / Composites Science and Technology 61 (2001) 1303–1310
resulting composites (17 wt.% fibre). While studying
grafting effect untreated coir composite is taken as stan-
dard material for comparison. In case of 5% AN-grafted
coir composites, both the TS and FS increases margin-
ally but with increase in grafting (10%), both TS and FS
increases by 14 and 15%, respectively. With further
increase in AN grafting (i.e. at 15%) the TS and FS
decrease drastically. The improved TS and FS of AN-
grafted (5 and 10%) fibre composites may be due to bet-
ter wettability and adhesion between the grafted fibres
and the matrix polymer [14]. The decrease in TS and FS
at higher percentage of AN grafting (15%) is due to the
fact that at higher percentage of grafting the fibre
strength reduced drastically and fibre becomes porous
for which composite prepared from it become weak.
The effect of different extent of AN-grafting onto coir
fibres on izod impact strength of the resulting composite
is represented in Table 1. As observed in TS and FS, the
IS of AN grafted fibre composites increases upto graft-
ing percentage of 10%. At higher AN-grafting (15%),
the IS of resulting composites decrease drastically. The
impact performance of the AN-grafted coir composites
may be attributed to several factors such as fibre rigid-
ity, interfacial stress resistance, fibre aspect ratio etc.
Fig. 5. SEM of tensile fractured surfaces of: (a) and (b) untreated coir-polyester composite; (c) AN-grafted (10%) coir-polyester composite; (d)
alkali treated (5%) coir-polyester.
3.4. Hybrid composites
Hybrid composites are prepared with untreated, 5%
alkali treated, 10% AN-grafted and bleached (65
C)
coir fibres (13 wt.%) in combination with glass fibre (7
wt.%) in polyester resin.
The effect of different types of surface modifications,
i.e. alkali treatment (5%), AN-grafting (10%) and
bleaching (65
C) of coir fibres on TS and FS of hybrid
composites is shown in Fig. 4. The untreated coir hybrid
composite is taken as standard material for comparison.
In comparison to alkali treated (5%) and bleached
(65
C) coir hybrid composites, 10% AN-grafted coir
hybrid composite shows better TS (45.80 MPa) as well as
better FS (110.9 MPa). Alkali treated coir hybrid com-
posites (5%) improve the TS by 8.25% and FS by 19%
in comparison to untreated coir hybrid composites. For
bleached (65
C) coir hybrid composite an improved
flexural strength (109.7 MPa) is found although the
sample does not show any improvement in TS.
The IS values of untreated and different surface
modified coir hybrid composites are shown in Table 1.
Alkali treated coir hybrid composites (5%) show better
impact strength of 687.8 J/m. Hybrid composites with
 J. Rout et al. / Composites Science and Technology 61 (2001) 1303–1310
10% AN-grafted fibres improve the impact strength by
9.32% in comparison to untreated coir hybrid compo-
sites. Bleached (65
C) coir hybrid composites show a
marginal improvement in IS value.
3.5. Water absorption
The water absorption behaviors of untreated and
surface modified coir polyester composites as well as
coir/glass hybrid polyester composites are studied
(Table 2). The extent of water absorption decreases
considerably on surface modification of coir fibres. AN-
grafted fibres (10%) show considerable reduction in
water absorption (4.119%) which again confirm a better
adhesion between AN-grafted fibres with polyester
resin. The water absorption values of alkali treated
(5%) and bleached (65
C) coir polyester composites are
also considerably less than the untreated coir polyester
composites. In case of untreated coir polyester compo-
sites the poor wettability and adhesion between untreated
coir towards polyester resin are attributed to the hydro-
philic nature of coir fibre. This hydrophilicity is respon-
sible for the higher percentage water uptake in untreated
Fig. 6. SEM of impact fractured surfaces of: (a) untreated coir hybrid composite; (b) AN-grafted (10%) coir hybrid composite; (c) bleached (65
C)
coir hybrid composite.
1309
coir composites. In case of surface modified coir fibre
composites, the fibres get masked with the polyester
resin in the laminate with a stronger adhesion resulting
in greater hydrophobicity and lesser water absorption.
The water absorption of glass reinforced coir polyester
composites is less than that of coir polyester composites.
In case of glass reinforced coir-polyester composites the
fibres are arranged in randomly close packed manner in
which water impermeable glass fibres act as barriers and
prevent the contact between water and hydrophilic coir
fibres and hence prevent the water absorption of coir
fibres.
3.6. Scanning electron microscopy
Interface studies of untreated and surface modified
coir-polyester and glass reinforced coir-polyester com-
posites are carried out to investigate fibre splitting, fibre
pull-out, de-bonding, matrix cracking and fibre-matrix
interaction by scanning electron microscopy. Fig. 5
shows a comparison of the tensile fractured surfaces of
10% AN-grafted coir and 5% alkali treated coir com-
posites with untreated coir composites. Fig. 5(a) shows
1310 J. Rout et al. / Composites Science and Technology 61 (2001) 1303–1310
Table 2
Effect of surface modification on water absorption of coir-polyester
and glass/coir polyester hybrid composites
Surface Water absorption (%)
modification
Coir-polyester Glass/coir-polyester
hybrid
Untreated 8.530 5.186
Alkali treated (5%) 4.994 3.147
Bleached (65
C) 5.861 3.718
AN-grafted (10%) 4.119 2.997
the fractured surface of untreated coir composite with
fibre pull outs and many holes that left after the fibres
are pulled out from the matrix when stress is applied.
The failure occurs at the weak fibre/matrix interface.
Fig. 5(b) shows the incompatibility of untreated fibre
surface with the polyester matrix. The fractured surface
of 10% AN-grafted coir composite [Fig. 5(c)] shows a
reduction in fiber pullout with good dispersion of fibres
in the matrix. Fig. 5(d) shows pulled-out fibres along
with the existence of cracks at the broken fibre ends/
sites in 5% alkali treated coir-polyester composite sug-
gesting failure occurred at the fibre due to strong adhe-
sion between the fibre and matrix.
Fig. 6 shows the impact fractured surfaces of untreated
and surface modified coir hybrid composites. Fig 6(a)
shows the glass bundles with polyester matrix in
untreated coir hybrid composites. This clearly shows the
incompatibility between the untreated coir with glass
fibres. Fig. 6(b) and (c) show the impact fractured sur-
faces of 10% AN-grafted fibre and bleached (65%) coir
hybrid composites. Both the SEM micrographs show
good adhesion of fibres with matrix. Cracks are devel-
oped in the matrix due to stronger interaction of fibre
with matrix.
4. Conclusion
The adhesion between coir fibre and polyester matrix
is poor. However, the adhesion can be improved by
surface modification of coir fibres. All modifications of
the fibre surfaces have increased the mechanical prop-
erties of composites. Among the alkali treated coir fibre
polyester composites, 2% alkali treated coir composites
show better tensile strength (26.80 MPa) whereas 5%
alkali treated coir composites show better flexural (60.4
MPa) and impact strength (634.6 J/m). AN grafted coir
fibres (10%) improve the TS and FS of composites by
14 and 15%, respectively, in comparison to untreated
coir composites. Bleached (65
C) coir composites show
better flexural strength (61.6 MPa) which is  20%
more than the FS of untreated fibre composites. It is
also observed that water absorption tendency of the
composites decrease by surface modification of fibres as
well as hybridization. It can be predicted that with coir
fibre reinforcement the best properties of glass-fibre-
reinforced plastics cannot be achieved, above all
because of the big difference between the modulus of
elasticity of the glass and coir fibres. However, from the
above discussions we can say that surface modified coir
fibres and polyester matrix can be molded into a cost-
effective but value added composite materials.
Acknowledgements
A.K.M. and M.M. are thankful to the Department of
Science and Technology, New Delhi, India and Aero-
com Pvt. Ltd., Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India for financial
grants to carry out this research work.
References
[1] Narayan R. Biomass (renewable) resources for production of
materials, chemicals and fuels — a paradigm shift. ACS Symp
Ser 1992;1:476.
[2] Chand N, Rohatgi PK, Satyanarayana KG. In: Lac Stuard M.
editor. International Encyclopedia of Composites. VCH Publish-
ers, Germany, Vol. 4, p. 9, 1991.
[3] Bledki AK, Reihmane S, Gassan J. J Appl Polym Sci
1996;59:1329.
[4] Satyanarayan KG, Kulkarni AG, Rohatgi PK. J Scient Ind Res
1981;40:222.
[5] Owolabi O, Czvikovszky T, Kovacs I. J Appl Polym Sci 1985;
30:1827.
[6] Varma DS, Varma M, Varma IK. J Reinf Plast Compos 1985;
4:419.
[7] Varma DS, Varma M, Varma IK. Ind Eng Chem Prod Res Dev
1986;25:282.
[8] Prasad SV, Pavithran C, Rohatgi PK. J Mater Sci 1983;18:1443.
[9] Geethamma VG, Thomas Mathew K, Lakshminarayan R, Tho-
mas S. Polymer 1998;39:1483.
[10] Paul A, Thomas S. J Appl Polym Sci 1997;63(2):247.
[11] Abdul Khalil HPS, Rozman HD, Ahmad MN, Ismail H. Polym
Plast Technol Eng 2000;39(4):757.
[12] Mohanty AK, Parija S, Misra M. J Appl Polym Sci 1996;60:931.
[13] Rout J, Misra M, Mohanty AK. Polym Adv Technol 1999;
10:336.
[14] Rout J, Misra M, Tripathy SS, Nayak SK, Mohanty AK. Poly-
mer Composites 2001;22(4).
[15] Rout J, Tripathy SS, Misra M, Nayak SK, Mohanty AK. J Appl
Polym Sci 2001;79:1169.
[16] Dash BN, Rana AK, Mishra HK, Nayak SK, Mishra SC, Tri-
pathy SS. Polymer Composites 1999;20(1):62.