Feasibility Study on Mechanical Properties of Date Palm Fiber and Epoxy Bio-Composite for Automotive Applications

Abstract

In Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia and the Sultanate of Oman, date palms are a major agricultural crop. There is a considerable supply of date palm stems and leaves as agricultural residues. It may be easy and affordable to harvest a large amount of fiber from stem and leaves of date palm trees, which are common in the Al Batinah region. Moreover, they have durability and a variety of textures on the strands. In terms of the use of waste materials and environmentally friendly disposal, the use of natural fibres derived from renewable resources is beneficial to the environment. Natural fiber composite materials have become a focus of research and development due to their availability, widespread use, renewable nature, cost effectiveness as well as ecofriendliness. Thanks to their balanced mechanical properties, the use of composite materials in vehicles, aircraft, marine and civil structures is becoming more common. The fibres must be reinforced with polymers to ensure properties such as compression, impact strength, hardness and flexural flexibility of composite materials. Therefore, for the above specified mechanical properties, the strength of the composite produced from DPFs of local varieties shall be tested in this case. In order to obtain a good natural polymer composite which can be used for a variety of applications, the main objective is to find a way to use waste palm tree fibres to obtain a good natural polymer composite.