This study investigates the effects of nipa palm fiber on Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS)
composite and the application of styrene polymerization 1) on the mechanical properties of the
achieved composite materials. ABS sheets prepared from its pellets by using hot-pressing method
was used to produce nipa palm fiber-reinforced composite. In addition, styrene polymerization
was applied to increase the interfacial strength between fibers and matrix. The mechanical
properties of these two composites were tested for comparison.

Figure 1 shows that with the use of about 30% nipa palm fiber reinforcement for composite
materials greatly affects the mechanical properties of the material. Compared with the sample of
100% resin, the impact strength is lower about 25-30%, however the tensile and bending increase
by 25%, while the processing of fiber with styrene increase the tensile and bending increased by
about 20% compared with the results of untreated fiber samples. This could be explained by the
induced polystyrene acting as a bridge link between fiber and resin base. This leads to the
increase in durability link and mechanical properties of the composite sample.