ABSTRACT
Natural fibres and their composites are gaining more popularity day by day. Pineapple, Ananas comosus, an herbaceous perennial plant, bears most unique and exotic fruits. Pineapple leaf fibre (PALF), obtained from pineapple leaf, is one of the least exploited natural fibres and also the most common and abundantly available waste materials in South-east Asia, India and South America. It is an interesting fact that pineapple cultivation yields more pineapple leaves besides pineapple fruit. Usually after harvesting, the huge bundles of leaves remain in the field itself, creating great disposal problems to farmers. So, it is the need of the hour to find a solution to covert this agro-waste into useful products such as fibreboards, fibres, charcoal and biofuel. PALF possess desirable properties such as high-cellulose content, good tensile strength and fibre length. All these properties make it an excellent material to be used as a reinforcing agent in thermoset, thermoplastic, rubber and biodegradable polymer composites. The first part of this chapter mainly focuses on the features of pineapple plant and details on the methods of extraction of PALF from the leaves. The later sections will discuss on the role of PALF as a reinforcement agent in improving the physio-mechanical properties of polyester composites and their applications.
