v Daghigh - Young Researchers and Elite Club, Islamic Azad University, Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran
M Haghpanahi - Department of Mechanical Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran
K Nikbin - Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College, London, UK

In this article, for the first time, a new natural bast fiber known as latania natural fiber is introduced and employed to reinforce polypropylene (PP) and ethylene-propylene-diene-monomer (EPDM) (PP/EPDM composite) and the standard fabricated specimens are tested under tensile loads. Different fiber weight fractions of 0, 5, 10, 20 and 30% are investigated. Mechanical tensile and morphological properties of PP/EDPM composites with and without latania natural fibers are studied. Inspired by a recent published research work [1] in which jute natural fiber was used to reinforce PP/EPDM composites to be examined under tensile loads, fabrication procedure and testing conditions are intentionally the same as that mentioned in [1]. This provides a good opportunity to compare two different natural fiber reinforcements: jute and latania. The results showed higher mechanical performance of PP/EPDM/Latania than PP/EPDM/Jute composites under tensile condition. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) photographs were used to gain more understanding of the nature of fracture.

A. Polymer-matrix composites (PMCs), B. Mechanical properties, D. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), E. Injection moulding