Analysis of Pineapple Leaf Fiber Reinforced Composite Vehicle Bumper with Varying Fiber Volume Fraction

This paper presents the analysis of the Pineapple Leaf Fiber (PALF) reinforced composite used as a material for car bumpers. Impact analysis is performed on the modeled front car bumper at different fiber content, i.e., at the difference in the value of the fiber volume fraction, and the results are discussed. The objective is to model a car's rear bumper with considered dimensions, and analyze it by simulating in the circumstances of a crash, i.e., the impact is simulated against a rigid body at speed as per the standards of the vehicle. The natural fiber reinforced composite, which has good specific weight compared to synthetic fiber, results in a reduction in the weight of the whole body, resulting in less weight-to-volume ratio, when compared to the use of synthetic fibers and, therefore, can be considered as a material for car front bumper. There may certainly be a difference in performance, but depending on the required applications, the fiber-matrix bonding, and the aspect ratio can be varied. For PALF, the compensation for the low value of modulus can be done by having a very high aspect ratio, as the composite modulus is influenced by both young’s modulus and aspect ratio. In PALF reinforced Composites, the variation of fiber content affects the performance of the composites with less increase in overall weight compared to that of synthetic fibers.

Keywords: Fiber reinforced composite, Natural fiber, Pineapple leaf fiber.