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Areca Palm (Arecha catechu) is classified as an abundant plant in Indonesia. Areca palm leaf sheath is a natural fiber composed of cellulose fibers which are the main structural walls of green plant cells. Cellulose fiber from the areca leaf sheath fiber was extracted by following a chemical modification. In this research, the chemical extraction of cellulose fibers was carried out, namely alkalization. Used 17.5% NaOH solvent at 80oC with a variable immersion time of 20 minutes, 40 minutes, and 60 minutes, which aims to determine the effect of alkalization time of lignocellulose content and tensile strength of single fibers on areca leaf sheath fiber. This result is based on the fiber functional group formed in the Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) analysis and the highest cellulose content from the analysis of the chemical composition testing of the fiber using the Chesson-Datta method. Then the tensile testing of ASTM D3379 was carried out to determine the tensile strength of the areca leaf sheath fiber after the alkalization process so that it was able to meet the criteria as a filler on natural fiber composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Superconductor is a material which when an electric current flows through it, it will not lose energy or can be said to have zero resistance at low temperatures. The manufacture of BaPb0.7Bi0.3O3 superconducting material by means of the solids method where the sample is processed through solid mixing then calcined and continued sintering at a temperature of 600, 610, 620, and 630°C for 12 hours. Then continued testing using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope and superconductivity test using cryogenic. From the results of X-ray diffraction, the highest tetragonal structure was obtained at a sintering temperature of 610°C of 75.9% with a Tc value of 11.8 K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]