Effect of Silica on Thermal and Mechanical Properties of Sisal Fiber Rein- forced Polyester Composites

The main objective of this paper is to investigate effect of silica on thermal and mechanical properties of sisal natural fiber reinforced polyester composites. The composites with and with out silica have been made by in-corporating 100 % biodegradable sisal fibers as reinforcement in the polyester matrix. The results show that the tensile strength and tensile modulus of composite with silica are 1.5, and 1.08 times greater than that of composite without silica, respectively. The impact strength of composite with sand is 1.36, and 1.8 times greater than that of composite with out silica and plain polyester, respectively. The effect of silica on specific heat capacity of composite is also considered and discussed