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Industrial development has led to an increase in demand for friction materials, resulting in increasingly prominent environmental issues throughout their entire life cycle, and developing green and eco‐friendly brake friction materials has become a focus in the braking field. This paper explores the mechanical and tribological properties of fly ash (industrial waste) and sisal fiber (natural fiber) as eco‐friendly components to enhance brake friction materials. Four samples containing different ratios of fly ash and sisal fiber were prepared and tested with a variable‐speed friction testing machine. The results show that the eco‐friendly alternative combination can effectively improve the friction coefficient, and reduce friction fluctuations and thermal degradation, but the wear rate will also increase accordingly. In addition, the worn morphology reveals the formation of the contact platform and wear mechanism. A hybrid integration of analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and multi‐objective optimization by ratio analysis (MOORA) was used to weigh various evaluation indicators objectively and rank the samples. The sample with 8% fly ash and 6% sisal fiber exhibited the best comprehensive tribological performance. Highlights: Development of eco‐friendly brake friction composites with natural and waste additives.Investigation of the effect of the natural wastes' ratio on prepared composites' physical, mechanical, and tribological properties.Evaluation of brake friction composites with AHP‐MOORA.Sample S6F8 exhibits the best comprehensive tribological performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current research investigation, jute and sisal intra‐hybrid woven fabric were specifically tailored to maintain jute and sisal in weft and warp directions, respectively. Jute sisal intra‐hybrid composites were prepared with four layers of intra‐hybrid woven fibers using a compression molding technique. Physical, mechanical (static and dynamic), and thermal stability behavior were investigated, and their structure–property relationship has been established. The obtained results showed that jute‐sisal cross‐interplay‐based hybrid composites recorded maximum tensile and flexural modulus values with minimum anisotropy. It can be concluded from the current experimental investigation that weft/warp orientation and stacking sequence play a significant role in defining the mechanical performance and anisotropic nature of woven fiber‐reinforced laminated composites. Also, the anisotropic properties can be minimized by investigating the effect of fiber orientation and hybridization of natural fibers‐based laminated composites. Highlights: Woven mats were tailored to orient different fibers in warp and weft directions.The influence of the fiber's orientation and stacking sequence was analyzed.Fiber orientation and hybridization have influenced mechanical performance.The alternative stacking sequence has shown the highest mechanical properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of industrial waste red mud in polymer composites promotes environmental sustainability by mitigating the environmental impacts associated with landfill disposal. Previous research by the authors on red mud sisal fiber composites resulted in increased strength; it is expected that the strength can be increased further through fiber treatment. As a result, the current study sought to examine the effects of chemical‐treated sisal fiber reinforcement on the mechanical properties of red mud composites. Alkaline treatment and silane treatment were both used as chemical treatment methods. Red mud was added in three different weight percentages, and composites were built using the compression molding method and tested for hardness, tensile strength, flexural strength, and impact strength. The findings indicate that the strength of the composite increases with the incorporation of treated fibers, silane‐treated 30% red mud composites showed a maximum hardness of around 92 shore D. The tensile strength of the composites containing 20% red mud and treated with silane was the highest, reaching ca. 63 MPa. This significant increase in strength was attributed to the formation of strong interfacial bonding between the red mud, fiber, and matrix. Furthermore, the silane‐treated 20 wt% red mud composites have the highest flexural strength (ca. 244 MPa) and impact strength (ca. 26 J/m). However, increasing the red mud content above 20 wt% resulted in decreased tensile, flexural, and impact strength due to poor bond development, and red mud agglomeration. The findings of this study are beneficial for the design and development of composites based on red mud, as well as for promoting sustainable waste management practices. Highlights: Red mud composites achieve superior mechanical strength.Chemical treatment enhances sisal fiber reinforcement.Sustainable waste management promoted through composite utilization.Strong interfacial bonding improves composite performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The thermoplastic cassava starch (TPS)/sisal fiber (SF) composites were prepared by melt blending. The effects of SF content and its surface treated by sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and silane coupling agent (KH550) on the thermal degradation behavior and structures of TPS were investigated by thermogravimetric‐mass spectrometry (TG‐MS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The thermal decomposition temperatures of TPS/SF composites increase with the SF content. The thermal decomposition products of TPS/SF composites are mainly methane, H2O, acetylene, formaldehyde, methanol and CO2. The thermal stability of composites containing SF treated by NaOH is better than that of KH550. TPS/SF composites show A + V types crystal, and the sample containing SF treated by NaOH has the highest V type crystal. The experimental results reveal that the content and the surface of SF play an important role in the thermal stability and structures changes of TPS/SF composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work deals with the characterization of interwoven roselle/sisal fiber fabric reinforced epoxy composites. All the composites are manufactured using the hand layup technique, and the physical (density), mechanical (tensile, flexural, and impact) and dynamic mechanical characteristics are determined as per ASTM standards. The findings reveal that roselle fabric composite has superior mechanical properties than interwoven roselle/sisal fabric composites. The tensile and impact strengths of the sisal fabric composite are lower than those of the roselle fabric composite. However, the roselle fabric composite and sisal fabric composite have similar flexural properties. The sisal fabric composite yields the highest peak value of the loss factor. The loss factor peak height for the roselle/sisal fabric composites increases with increased sisal fiber content. Morphological analysis revealed proof of yarn pullout and matrix damage near the yarn, indicating inadequate stress transfer between the fabric and epoxy. The property map is presented in comparison with available literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research work, the effect of individual and hybridized reinforcement of sisal fibrils with randomly distributed short sisal fibers has been investigated. The sisal fibrils (SP) and sisal fibers (SF) were reinforced with phenol formaldehyde matrix using hot stage compression molding technique. Composite laminates were prepared keeping the total wt% of the fibrils/fibers to be 40. The mechanical strength of SP reinforced phenol formaldehyde laminates was found to be superior as compared to sisal fiber and sisal fibril/fiber hybrid reinforced laminates. The 40 wt% sisal fibril reinforced composite laminates (SP40PF60) showed 73% and 25% increase in tensile strength, 78% and 23% increase in flexural strength, and 174% and 44% increase in impact strength as compared to 40 wt% sisal fiber reinforced laminates (SF40PF60) and 40 wt% hybrid reinforced (having equal proportion of fibrils and fibers) laminates (SF20SP20PF60). The dielectric properties of SP40PF60 increased by 14% and 9% as compared to SF40PF60 and SF20SP20PF60 laminates. Thermo‐gravimetric analysis analysis also showed higher thermal stability for sisal fibril phenol formaldehyde laminates than pure fiber and fibril/fiber hybrid laminates. Scanning electron microscopy was carried out to understand the nature of fibril/fiber/matrix interface. These laminates have been specially designed for press boards used in transformer assembly as environment friendly high mechanical strength and electrical insulating material. Additionally, these laminates can be useful for various fields such as electrical and aerospace industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]