Pineapple leaf fibre, which is rich in cellulose, relative inexpensive and abundantly available has the potential for polymer-reinforced composite. The present study investigates the tensile and flexural behaviours of pineapple leaf fibre-polypropylene composites as a function of volume fraction. The tensile modulus and tensile strength of the composites were found to be increasing with fibre content in accordance with the rule of mixtures. The tensile modulus and tensile strength with a volume fraction 10.8% are 687.02 and 37.28 MPa, respectively. The flexural modulus gives higher value at 2.7% volume fraction. The flexural strength of the composites containing 5.4% volume fraction was found to be higher than that of pure polypropylene resin by 5.1%. Scanning electron microscopic studies were carried out to understand the fibre-matrix adhesion and fibre breakage.

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Fiber glass has been used widely in manufacturing industries, especially marine industries, because of low cost and high strength. However, glass fiber can cause acute irritation to the skin, eyes, and upper respiratory tract. This study looked at the possibility of substituting glass fiber with natural fiber in composite materials. The surface properties of sugar palm fiber (Arenga pinnata) were modified using seawater and freshwater as treatment substances. This led to biological, chemical, and water degradation of the sugar palm fiber. Morphological and structural changes in the fibers were investigated using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). A series of tensile tests based on ASTM D638-99 was carried out on epoxy composites with 15% sugar palm fiber by volume. It was found that seawater and freshwater treatments improved the surface properties of the sugar palm fiber and thus resulted in better adhesion quality as compared to untreated fiber. An improvement in tensile strength also supported this finding. Treatment with seawater for 30 days proved to be the best, with 67.26% increase in tensile strength.

Design of experiments Taguchi Electrical discharge turning Material removal rate a b s t r a c t The paper presents the application of the Taguchi robust design methods to optimize the precision and accuracy of the electrical discharge machining process (EDM) for machining of precise cylindrical forms on hard and difficult-to-machine materials. The present study has been carried out on the influence of six design factors: intensity supplied by the generator of the EDM machine (I), pulse-on time (t i ), voltage (V), pulse-off time (t o ), servo (V G ), and rotational speed (C) which are the most relevant parameters to be controlled by the EDM process machinists, over material removal rate (MRR) as an indicator of the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the process. The study of behaviour of the mentioned response has done by means of the technique called design of experiments (DOE). In this case, an L 18 (2 1 × 3 7 ) Taguchi standard orthogonal array was chosen due to the number of factors and their levels in the study.