Bagasse fiber is a residue of a sugarcane milling process. In this research, bagasse fiber has been used as reinforcing component for
unsaturated polyester resin (USP) to open up further possibilities in waste management. The chemical treatments using sodium hydroxide
(NaOH) and acrylic acid (AA) were carried out to modify the fiber properties. The effect of different fiber treatment and the fiber
content on the composite properties were investigated. At different fiber loadings, AA treated fiber composites shows better mechanical
properties compared to those of NaOH treated fiber composites. SEM investigations show that the surface modifications improve the
fiber–matrix interaction. Moreover, the storage modulus of dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) indicated that NaOH and AA treated
fibers based composites enhance the storage modulus of the composites. From water absorption study, it was observed that the treated
fiber composites show lower water absorption properties compared to those of untreated fiber based composites.