Effect of polypropylene and polyvinyl alcohol fibers on characteristics and microstructure of polymer composite

Abstract This study aims to assess the mechanical properties of polymer composite (PC) reinforced by introducing two types of synthetic fibers including polypropylene (PP) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). The optimum amount of resin was evaluated through mechanical tests. Then, selected fibers were added to the optimum mix in three fractions (0.5%, 1%, and 1.5%) by the weight of the binder. Various properties of PC which are density, compressive strength, flexural strength, modulus of elastic, and water absorption were appraised for all mix combinations after different curing times (1, 3, 7, and 28 days) beside scanning electron microscopy analysis for microstructure observation. Experimental outcomes revealed that by rising the PP fiber content, the mechanical strengths of fiber‐reinforced polymer composite (FRPC) were ameliorated, where compressive and flexural strength grew 58.14% and 78.31%, respectively, at the highest fiber ratio (1.5%) compared with the plain PC. On the other hand, PC reinforced by PVA fibers represented an inverse behavior that by ascending the fiber fraction, reduction in the properties of FRPC observed. Therefore, the fiber content obtained better performance was 1.5% and 0.5% for PP and PVA mixtures in PC, respectively.