Properties and behaviour of gomuti fibre composites under tensile and compressive load

Gomuti fibre or sugar-palm fibre is a natural fibre that traditionally has been used as roofing and insulation material. This paper presents an experimental investigation into the properties and behaviour of gomuti fibre composites when subjected to axial tensile and compressive load. Composite panels prepared for this study are the combinations of untreated unidirectional gomuti fibre with three different polymer thermoset resins (epoxy, vinylester and polyester). The panels are fabricated manually by hand lay-up. Results show that the average tensile strength of the composite specimens is between 35–46 MPa and the average compressive strength between 82–108 MPa. Specimens of gomuti/vinylester have the highest average tensile and compressive strength. Load vs extension plots of tensile specimens of all three combinations display elastic region before sudden break after peak load while compressive specimens of each combination exhibit different tendency after the elastic region and peak load.