Review Article
A Review on Pineapple Leaves Fibre and Its Composites
M. Asim,
1
Khalina Abdan,
1,2
M. Jawaid,
1
M. Nasir,
3
Zahra Dashtizadeh,
1
M. R. Ishak,
4
and M. Enamul Hoque
5
1
Laboratory of Biocomposite Technology, Institute of Tropical Forestry and Forest Products (INTROP), Universiti Putra Malaysia,
43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
2
Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia,
43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
3
School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia
4
Department of Aerospace Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
5
Department of Mechanical, Materials & Manufacturing Engineering, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus,
Jalan Broga, 43500 Semenyih, Selangor, Malaysia
Correspondence should be addressed to M. Jawaid; jawaid md@yahoo.co.in
Received 6 February 2015; Accepted 20 April 2015
Academic Editor: Yulin Deng
Copyright © 2015 M. Asim et al. his is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Natural ibre based composites are under intensive study due to their ecofriendly nature and peculiar properties. he advantage of
natural ibres is their continuous supply, easy and safe handling, and biodegradable nature. Although natural ibres exhibit admirable
physical and mechanical properties, it varies with the plant source, species, geography, and so forth. Pineapple leave ibre (PALF)
is one of the abundantly available wastes materials of Malaysia and has not been studied yet as it is required. A detailed study
of chemical, physical, and mechanical properties will bring out logical and reasonable utilization of PALF for various applications.
From the socioeconomic prospective, PALF can be a new source of raw material to the industries and can be potential replacement of
the expensive and nonrenewable synthetic ibre. However, few studies on PALF have been done describing the interfacial adhesion
between ibres and reinforcement compatibility of ibre but a detailed study on PALF properties is not available. In this review,
author covered the basic information of PALF and compared the chemical, physical, and mechanical properties with other natural
ibres. Furthermore, it summarizes the recent work reported on physical, mechanical, and thermal properties of PALF reinforced
polymer composites with its potential applications.
1. Introduction
Industries are widely using plant ibres for numerous appli-
cations from many resources. In the middle of 20th cen-
tury, synthetic ibres rose up drastically, and natural ibres
industries collapse its market shares. For promoting natural
ibre and material, year 2009 is considered as international
year of natural ibre (IYNF), which is highly supportive
to famers, agriculture, environment, and market demands.
Composite market of United States has been recorded 2.7–
2.8 billion pounds from 2006 to 2007. On the basis of
compound annual growth rate of 3.3%, it is estimated to
cross over 3.3 billion pounds [1]. In 2009, hailand produces
1.894 million tonnes, the Philippines produced 2.198 million
tonnes, and Brazil produced only 1.43 million tonnes. In 2001
the production of Costa Rica, Cote d’lvoire, and Philippines
were 322,000 tonnes, 188,000 tonnes, and 135000 tonnes,
respectively [2]. he most important property of natural
ibre is biodegradability and noncarcinogenic which bring it
back into fashion, with an advantage of being cost-efective.
he versatile nature of it makes it suitable for automobiles,
railway coach, building construction, partition wall cabinets,
or furniture for machinery uses and packaging. Natural ibres
are important agricultural biomass contributing to Malaysian
economy. he huge and wide range availability of natural
ibre can reduce the pressure on forest and agriculture.
he usage of diverse raw materials will help to keep a
ecological balance in nature. Generally agriculture materials
and forest product produce 30–40% waste materials, which
can also be used in value added processing. he low density
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
International Journal of Polymer Science
Article ID 950567