Search

Environmentally friendly materials have become an exciting topic of research in preventing environmental pollution in Indonesia. Natural fiber-reinforced composite is one of the ecologically friendly bio-composites. The purpose of this study was to analyse the water content, the swelling, and the nail head-pulled-through strength of Sumberejo kenaf fiber reinforced epoxy (KF/EP) composites according to SNI 01-4449-2006 standard. The kenaf fiber was treated with NaOH solution before it was used as reinforcement. The KF/EP composite laminas were fabricated by Vacuum Assisted Resin Infusion (VARI) method with a stack of (0°/0°/0°/0°) and (0°/90°/0°/90°). These laminas were compared to pristine epoxy samples. These composites were categorized as high-density fiber-boards (HDF). Higher value of nail head pull-through strength was found in the KF/EP (0°/90°/0°/90°) with the value of (5,11 ± 0,77) kgf/mm2 and minimum values of water content and swelling were found in the KF/EP (0°/0°/0°/0°) with values (4,34 ± 0,18) %, and (4,07 ± 0,50) % respectively. However, these two composites complied with SNI 01-4449-2006 standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fiber plants are overgrown in Indonesia as one of tropical countries. Natural fibers have many benefits, namely environmentally friendly, recyclable materials, flexible, and can be used as reinforcement in polymer composites. This research aimed to analyze the hardness, impact, and fire resistance properties on Sumberejo kenaf fiber reinforced epoxy composites with the fiber orientations of 0°/0°/0°/0° and 0°/90°/0°/90°. The kenaf fiber was alkaline treated before it was used as reinforcement and the composites were fabricated by Vacuum Assisted Resin Infusion technique. Furthermore, the composites surfaces, before and after flammability test, were observed. SNI 01-4449-2006 was used as density standard for fiber-board and these composites were categorized as High-Density Fiber-Boards. The 0°/0°/0°/0° and 0°/90°/0°/90° Sumberejo kenaf fiber reinforced epoxy composites had similar values of hardness and impact strength, which were (71.48 ± 0.69) HD and (72.4 ± 1.01) HD; and (32.61 ± 1.28) J/cm2 and (33.03 ± 1.05) J/cm2 respectively. Meanwhile, the 0°/90°/0°/90° composites had better combustion rate than the 0°/0°/0°/0° composites, with a value of (14.0 ± 0.2) mm/minutes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of natural fibers as reinforcement in composites has been developed by researchers because of their eco-friendly, renewable, and potential replacement for synthetic fibers. Sumberejo kenaf fiber is one of the abundant natural fibers in Indonesia. The purpose of this study was to obtain the mechanical properties of Sumberejo kenaf fiber/ epoxy composites. The alkaline-treated fibers were arranged in 0°/0°/0°/0° and 0°/90°/0°/90° orientations. Composites with 40 wt% fiber content were fabricated using hand lay-up and followed by vacuum bagging method. The results showed that the tensile strength and flexural strength of Sumberejo kenaf fiber/ epoxy composites with 0°/0°/0°/0° fiber orientation were 11.73% and 37.71% higher than the composites with 0°/90°/0°/90° fiber orientation with the values of (91.18±9.85) MPa and (116.57±7.91) MPa, respectively. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) observations on the failure surface of the composites showed that the composites with 0°/0°/0°/0° fiber orientation had better fiber and matrix adhesion and lower voids content than the composites with 0°/90°/0°/90° fiber orientation. Referring to Indonesian National Standard 01-4449-2006 for composite fiberboard, Sumberejo kenaf fiber/ epoxy composites were categorized as a T2 45 type high-density fiberboard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural fiber had recently been used as reinforcement with polymer in a composite is increasing, due to benefits. The benefits in natural fiber is the lightweight, low cost, environmentally friendly with a good specific mechanical property. However, several factors need to take into account to affecting the mechanical properties of natural fiber reinforced polymer, such as fiber fraction, fiber condition and fiber orientation. This study presents the simulation study on the mechanical properties of different natural fiber reinforced in a diagonal orientation and to compare the mechanical properties such as tensile and bending properties of Kenaf Fiber, PALF, and Ramie reinforced polymer composites. This study of mechanical properties will be investigated using ANSYS 18.1. The composites are designed in different natural fiber with fiber orientation in direction of 45° and 135° alternately in five layers. Tensile and bending test are analyze based on ASTM standard to determine the effect of stacking sequence and fiber orientation on the composites. The results show that fiber orientation have affect the mechanical properties of the composite materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past decades, the extensive studies had been accomplished on the natural fibre reinforced polymer composites (NFPC) and are still continuous until today. The composites made of natural fibre and polymer has proven the better effectiveness in high impact fatigue strength and toughness. The increases of fibre loading give higher results fundamental in strength due to its high interfacial bonding between the fibre. In the present work, experimental tests were carried out to study the mechanical properties; tensile, hardness and impact and morphological characterization: Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) of the NFPC. The composites fabricated are between the Kenaf fibre and epoxy resin. The Kenaf fibre reinforced epoxy resin composites were fabricated using hand layup technique by layering the arranged fibre with polymer in the mould with different angle orientation (22.5° and 67.5°) as the main parameter observed and the fibre composition (2%, 4% and 6%). Before the fabrication started, the fibre had undergone the alkali treatment for the effective surface modification that can enhance the interfacial bonding between the fibre. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]