Mechanical, thermal and microstructural studies of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene reinforced with rattan (Calamus beccarii) fiber composites

Abstract In this research work, fibers from rattan plant stem (RA) were selected as reinforcing material with widely used thermoplastic polymer acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). The extracted fibers were chemically modified with NaOH followed by benzoylation and bleaching. Then they were used as reinforcement in ABS polymer matrix by different weight percentages (0, 10, 20, 30, and 40 wt%) for fabrication of composites. It was observed that chemical treatment changes the surface texture of the fibers enhancing the surface roughness which helps in proper fiber–matrix bonding. Various properties like static and dynamic mechanical properties, thermal and morphological properties were investigated. The mechanical properties of the composites were observed to increase at beginning phase with increase in filler content till optimum (24 wt%) fiber loading and from there on declines. Highest tensile strength of 74.98 MPa, 4.80 GPa of young's modulus, 90. A total of 10 MPa of flexural strength and 31.42 kJ/m² of impact strength were obtained at optimum fiber loading. Further characterizations in terms of Fourier transform‐infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X‐ray diffraction (XRD), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) on composites with optimum fiber loading were conducted and compared with untreated composites. These fabricated composites can be an alternative material for automobile industries due to its high strength and low weight advantage.