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The existing cross arms in high transmission towers are made of pultruded glass fibre reinforced polymer composite (PGFRPC). The moisture, temperature change in the atmosphere, and other environmental factors affect the performance of these members and cause a complete failure. It is apparent that any material used in such applications is susceptible to attack from environmental factors. Therefore, a feasible solution for this issue is to enhance the PGFRPC with a composite-filled sandwich structure as an alternative that could sustain longer than the existing cross arms due to its superior performance under bending and compressive loads. This paper presents a case study on experimental and analytical mechanical performance of both PGFRPCs and composite-filled sandwich structure. In this review, the composite-filled sandwich structure is proposed as an alternative to the conventional PGFRPC.

Cross arms in transmission tower are made up of Chengal wood, which degrade and collapse after a long period of service. This is due to creep deformation, and the rate of degradation is expedited due to exposure to extreme tropical climate. Hence, it is crucial to comprehend the early creep stage, which leads to structural failure. Apart from that, there are several research and industrial application gaps of these cross arms. For instance, creep life analysis of actual cross arms is still unexplored. In this study, the state-of-the-art is related to creep experiments and creep test rig designs, espacially on the creep test of a cantilever beam setup. The experimental methodologies implemented two vital approaches, conventional and accelerated techniques. The specific creep experiments on cantilever beam structure are emphasized and suggested in the manuscript as the building blocks for future design of cantilever creep test rig. This helps to guide future development design of cantilever beam creep test rig by fulfilling the specific criteria related to creep fundamentals, numerical modelling analysis, test operation for data evaluation, and development process. At the end, the challenges and improvements on the criteria existing design of test rigs are elaborated.

The hybridisation of conceptual design methods is presented in the development of multi-operations creep flexural test rig. The paper explains the integration of theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ), Morphological chart, and Analytic Network Process (ANP) method to ensure the quality function is fulfilled with the essential requirements. The objective of this project is to produce and choose the best design concept for the product development depending on the product design specifications (PDS). In the early stage of product development, the TRIZ contradiction principles and 40 TRIZ inventive solutions were applied as the guidance tools. To refine the specification of the product design, the principle solution parameters were detailed systematically with the aid of morphological chart. In this article, four innovative conceptual designs of the multi-operations creep flexural test rig were produced and the selection process was conducted using ANP method to perform the multi-criteria decision making process in selecting the best concept design. Keywords: Conceptual design, TRIZ, Morphological chart, Analytic Network Process, Flexural creep, Test rig

This chapter discusses on the introductory and background of safety and health in general aspect. In this section, the elaborations on theories and theroretical frameworks of accident and its causes are outlined accordingly. Later, this section narrows toward the foundation of safety and health in term of composites and engineering perspectives, such as safety engineering, chemical engineering, ergonomics and human factor engineering, industrial engineering and fire protection engineering. The preventive concepts and strategies in order to comprehend the accidents occurred in workplaces were also revealed. Lastly, this section identifies the details on significance and importance of safety and health monitoring.

This chapter introduces the basic fundamental and concept for design for safety. It reveals the technical gaps between design for safety and current state of the art to produce a new products. This chapter introduces the background of design for safety which covers those ten paradigms for safe designs to guide the designer to do right things at the right times. Moreover, the several concurrent engineering approaches have been described and used to be integrate with the design for safety in order to produce a new product. Detail discussions has been expanded with its examples and current progresses.

Cross arm is the main component used to lift the electric cable in a transmission tower. Recently, a synthetic cross arm was proposed to substitute the wooden cross arm due to the extreme creep deformation, which can induce a structural collapse. Several creep studies were conducted on a coupon scale for the synthetic cross arm. However, there is a lack of study on the assessment of creep properties for the actual size cross arm. Thus, the development of a special rig is required to accommodate the creep test. The paper explains the development of creep testing rig for a full-scale cross arm using the integration of theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ), morphological chart, and analytic network process (ANP). In the beginning, the finding of principle solutions was conducted using the TRIZ contradiction matrix. The characterisation of the design concepts was elaborated using the morphological chart. Finally, the ANP principle was exploited to select the best design via the pairwise comparison technique. The results show that Concept Design 5 (hybrid bracing design) scored the highest value and ranked first. Lastly, challenges on the design of creep testing machine and the improving criteria in concurrent engineering is presented. Keywords: TRIZ, ANP, Morphological chart, Creep testing rig, Full-scale cross arm

Natural fibers have attracted great attention from industrial players and researchers for the exploitation of polymer composites because of their “greener” nature and contribution to sustainable practice. Various industries have shifted toward sustainable technology in order to improve the balance between the environment and social and economic concerns. This manuscript aims to provide a brief review of the development of the foremost natural fiber-reinforced polymer composite (NFRPC) product designs and their applications. The first part of the manuscript presents a summary of the background of various natural fibers and their composites in the context of engineering applications. The behaviors of NFPCs vary with fiber type, source, and structure. Several drawbacks of NFPCs, e.g., higher water absorption rate, inferior fire resistance, and lower mechanical properties, have limited their applications. This has necessitated the development of good practice in systematic engineering design in order to attain optimized NRPC products. Product design and manufacturing engineering need to move in a mutually considerate manner in order to produce successful natural fiber-based composite material products. The design process involves concept design, material selection, and finally, the manufacturing of the design. Numerous products have been commercialized using natural fibers, e.g., sports equipment, musical instruments, and electronic products. In the end, this review provides a guideline for the product design process based on natural fibers, which subsequently leads to a sustainable design.

Over recent years, enthusiasm towards the manufacturing of biopolymers has attracted considerable attention due to the rising concern about depleting resources and worsening pollution. Among the biopolymers available in the world, polylactic acid (PLA) is one of the highest biopolymers produced globally and thus, making it suitable for product commercialisation. Therefore, the effectiveness of natural fibre reinforced PLA composite as an alternative material to substitute the non-renewable petroleum-based materials has been examined by researchers. The type of fibre used in fibre/matrix adhesion is very important because it influences the biocomposites’ mechanical properties. Besides that, an outline of the present circumstance of natural fibre-reinforced PLA 3D printing, as well as its functions in 4D printing for applications of stimuli-responsive polymers were also discussed. This research paper aims to present the development and conducted studies on PLA-based natural fibre bio-composites over the last decade. This work reviews recent PLA-derived bio-composite research related to PLA synthesis and biodegradation, its properties, processes, challenges and prospects.

Previously, numerous creep studies on wood materials have been conducted in various coupon-scale tests. None had conducted research on creep properties of full-scale wooden cross-arms under actual environment and working load conditions. Hence, this research established findings on effect of braced arms on the creep behaviors of Virgin Balau (Shorea dipterocarpaceae) wood timber cross-arm in 132 kV latticed tower. In this research, creep properties of the main members of both current and braced wooden cross-arm designs were evaluated under actual working load conditions at 1000 h. The wooden cross-arm was assembled on a custom-made creep test rig at an outdoor area to simulate its long-term mechanical behaviours under actual environment of tropical climate conditions. Further creep numerical analyses were also performed by using Findley and Burger models in order to elaborate the transient creep, elastic and viscoelastic moduli of both wooden cross-arm configurations. The findings display that the reinforcement of braced arms in cross-arm structure significantly reduced its creep strain. The inclusion of bracing system in cross-arm structure enhanced transient creep and stress independent material exponent of the wooden structure. The addition of braced arms also improved elastic and viscoelastic moduli of wooden cross-arm structure. Thus, the outcomes suggested that the installation of bracing system in wooden cross-arm could extend the structure’s service life. Subsequently, this effort would ease maintenance and reduce cost for long-term applications in transmission towers.

The reliance on nonrenewable resources in developing new product toward sustaining the ecological balance can be reduced by utilizing natural fiber reinforced composites. In this chapter, the design for sustainability approach is implemented to design and fabricate a prototype of an environmentally friendly trophy plaque (used as an award and gift) using kenaf fiber reinforced unsaturated polyester polymer composites. The kenaf composites trophy plaque development processes involved in this project are market investigation, creating the product design specification, developing the plaque conceptual design, detail design including plaque mold, manufacturing of the plaque mold and plaque component, and finally product assembly. In addition to its environmentally friendly properties, the final kenaf composites trophy plaque product development in this project also successfully achieved other design intents including lightweight, easy to fabricate, low cost, and having an acceptable balance between aesthetics and functionality.

Roselle has attained huge attention as a jute substitute, and attempts are being made to extend its cultivation in areas that are not favorable for the cultivation of jute. The roselle plant is classified as a rapid-growing plant and renewable natural bioresource that can be found growing in Malaysia, India, Panama, Indonesia, Jamaica, Mexico, Guatemala, Australia, Philippines, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Malawi, Uganda, Somalia, Tanzania, Djibouti, Cambodia, Vietnam, Namibia, Gabon, Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, DR Congo, Myanmar, Thailand, Belize, China, Sudan, South Sudan, Egypt, Gambia, Senegal, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Laos, Sri Lanka, Ghana, Nigeria, Brazil, and Cuba. This chapter discusses the origin, distribution, taxonomy, benefits, production, product development, and composites of the roselle plant. Roselle is an astringent, aromatic, and refreshing herb that is commonly used in the tropics. The roselle plant has been utilized in folk medicine as a mild laxative and diuretic and in the treatment of nerve and cardiac diseases. The leaves taste strongly mucilaginous and are used as a moisturizer and for cough relief. Similar to the leaves, the fruits also have antiscorbutic property. The flowers contain anthocyanin, the glycoside hibiscin, and gossypetin. The findings of this chapter showed that the incorporation and hybridization of roselle hybrid composites had improved the mechanical properties of polymer composites. Roselle can be utilized in either medical products or massive-scale industrial applications as a result of its excellent mechanical properties when reinforced with polymer composites.

Currently, high-strength fibers such as kevlar, carbon, spectra, glass fiber, carbon nanotube and zylon reinforced composite materials are commonly used in advanced transport structures. However, the world is changing and green material is at the forefront due to the depletion of inorganic materials such as petroleum and other mineral sources. Natural fibers can be classified as green materials, that is, defined as renewable materials. This chapter describes the recent advancements in biocomposites, specifically natural fiber polymer composites (NFPC). This is a material with significant mechanical and barrier properties that is also economical, biodegradable, renewable, and has a low density character. The above properties make NFPC promising for various advanced applications in such fields as automotive parts, papermaking, flexible optoelectronics, scaffolds, optical devices, pharmaceutical products, substitutes/medical biomaterials, spacecraft, aircraft, and tissue repair (wound dressing). In this chapter, the automotive applications of the natural fiber reinforced polymer composites are summarized. The present review covers reinforcement of macro- to nanoscale natural fibers with polymer composites for automotive applications.

The application of pultruded glass fiber-reinforced polymer composites (PGFRPCs) as a replacement for conventional wooden cross-arms in transmission towers is relatively new. Although numerous studies have conducted creep tests on coupon-scale PGFRPC cross-arms, none had performed creep analyses on full-scale PGFRPC cross-arms under actual working load conditions. Thus, this work proposed to study the influence of an additional bracing system on the creep responses of PGFRPC cross-arms in a 132 kV transmission tower. The creep behaviors and responses of the main members in current and braced PGFRPC cross-arm designs were compared and evaluated in a transmission tower under actual working conditions. These PGFRPC cross-arms were subjected to actual working loads mimicking the actual weight of electrical cables and insulators for a duration of 1000 h. The cross-arms were installed on a custom test rig in an open area to simulate the actual environment of tropical climate conditions. Further creep analysis was performed by using Findley and Burger models on the basis of experimental data to link instantaneous and extended (transient and viscoelastic) creep strains. The addition of braced arms to the structure reduced the total strain of a cross-arm’s main member beams and improved elastic and viscous moduli. The addition of bracing arms improved the structural integrity and stiffness of the cross-arm structure. The findings of this study suggested that the use of a bracing system in cross-arm structures could prolong the structures’ service life and subsequently reduce maintenance effort and cost for long-term applications in transmission towers.

Currently, the development and manufacturing of enhanced performance product with high-performance bio-based materials has been one of the aspiring purposes by engineers and researchers throughout the globe. For the past several decades, the conventional-based product was shown an increasing trend due to the significant growth of the global demand towards the material, which was attributed to its diverse and universal properties to be used in the development of science and technology. The materials are widely used, especially, for structural purposes in the automotive, marine, aerospace, food packaging, and construction sectors due to their lightweight properties such as higher strength and durability. Around 140 million tons of petroleum-based polymers is manufactured globally. However, petroleum-based polymers show negative effects on the environment, which leads to several issues, including health problems and pollution. Moreover, the majority of conventional plastics that are used end up in landfill areas. These observations showed that the synthetic plastics contribute to the major solid waste environmental pollutants. Subsequently, the increased cost and the negative effect on environment make the engineers and researchers show high interest in polymer biodegradation.

A simulated model was developed in order to design and simulate the mechanical properties of a cantilever beam creep testing rig for a full-scale size crossarm in transmission towers. Currently, the Malaysian power grid system is implementing several materials, such as Chengal wood, polymeric composite, and galvanised steel, as crossarm structures. However, there is a lack of study regarding the long-term mechanical behaviour of heavy structures in the literature. Hence, this article explains the design development of creep test rig for a full-scale crossarm structure using CATIA and mechanical simulation (deformation and safety factors) of the product via ANSYS. The test rig will be used to predict the creep life of the cantilever beam structure. In this study, a tall and large base area structure was designed and replicated from an actual tower to elevate the crossarm above the ground level. In order to select the best performance model, a baseline conceptual test rig was generated in CAD modelling, and the finite element analysis was carried out by using a static structural analysis in ANSYS. Four different bracing configurations were incorporated in the baseline model, and the modified structures were then analysed. The results show that the hybrid bracing configuration has enhanced the mechanical properties and safety factors in the baseline model.

Most of transmission line (TL) towers are designed and fabricated in the form of lattice using galvanized steel. The crossarm of the TL is made of Neobalanocarpus or Chengal wood. Recently, it has been reported by an electrical corporation situated in Malaysia that mechanical performance of the wooden crossarm declined below their service life of 40 years due to the extreme tropical weather in Malaysia. At present, composite crossarm made of glass fibre reinforced polymer composite were introduced as substitute in the 132 kV TL tower. However, the research findings lack of information on creep life estimation for the full-scale crossarm. Hence, a new test rig has to be developed to cater the testing operation using the uniaxial tension creep test. The primary objective of this review is to provide an overview of the creep theory and the existing creep testing methodology.

In the field of hybrid natural fiber polymer composites, there has been a recent surge in research and innovation for structural applications. To expand the strengths and applications of this category of materials, significant effort was put into improving their mechanical properties. Hybridization is a designed technique for fiber-reinforced composite materials that involves combining two or more fibers of different groups within a single matrix to manipulate the desired properties. They may be made from a mix of natural and synthetic fibers, synthetic and synthetic fibers, or natural fiber and carbonaceous materials. Owing to their diverse properties, hybrid natural fiber composite materials are manufactured from a variety of materials, including rubber, elastomer, metal, ceramics, glasses, and plants, which come in composite, sandwich laminate, lattice, and segmented shapes. Hybrid composites have a wide range of uses, including in aerospace interiors, naval, civil building, industrial, and sporting goods. This study intends to provide a summary of the factors that contribute to natural fiber-reinforced polymer composites’ mechanical and structural failure as well as overview the details and developments that have been achieved with the composites.

Despite growing urban electricity consumption, information on actual energy use in the household sector is still limited and causal factors leading to electricity consumption remain speculative due to urban expansion and its growing complexity, particularly in developing countries such as Malaysia. This study aims to examine the critical determinants of household electricity consumption by evaluating the patterns and flows of consumption and analysing relationships and their effects on electricity usage among 620 urban households in Seremban, Malaysia. Results suggest that the average urban household electricity consumption is 648.31 kWh/month, this value continues to grow with the increase in the household monthly income (r = 0.360, p &lt, 0.01) and number of rooms (r = 0.360, 0.01) as quality of life improves. A large portion of electricity is allocated for kitchen/home consumption, followed by cooling and lighting. Multiple linear regressions revealed that married households with a high monthly income and living in spacious houses together with three to five people are important predictors of electricity consumption in Seremban. This study empirically identified that the number of rooms is the most critical factor of electricity consumption and strategies to increase energy efficiency, maintain resource sustainability and minimise greenhouse gas threat on the urban ecosystem are vital. Therefore, promoting low carbon initiatives for energy conservation and technology improvement and implementing policies in the domestic sector are essential to achieve the greatest potential energy consumption reduction in urban regions.

Even though natural fiber reinforced polymer composites (NFRPCs) have been widely used in automotive and building industries, there is still a room to promote them to high-level structural applications such as primary structural component specifically for bullet proof and ballistic applications. The promising performance of Kevlar fabrics and aramid had widely implemented in numerous ballistic and bullet proof applications including for bullet proof helmets, vest, and other armor parts provides an acceptable range of protection to soldiers. However, disposal of used Kevlar products would affect the disruption of the ecosystem and pollutes the environment. Replacing the current Kevlar fabric and aramid in the protective equipment with natural fibers with enhanced kinetic energy absorption and dissipation has been significant effort to upgrade the ballistic performance of the composite structure with green and renewable resources. The vast availability, low cost and ease of manufacturing of natural fibers have grasped the attention of researchers around the globe in order to study them in heavy armory equipment and high durable products. The possibility in enhancement of natural fiber’s mechanical properties has led the extension of research studies toward the application of NFRPCs for structural and ballistic applications. Hence, this article established a state-of-the-art review on the influence of utilizing various natural fibers as an alternative material to Kevlar fabric for armor structure system. The article also focuses on the effect of layering and sequencing of natural fiber fabric in the composites to advance the current armor structure system.

The high demand for plastic and polymeric materials which keeps rising every year makes them important industries, for which sustainability is a crucial aspect to be taken into account. Therefore, it becomes a requirement to makes it a clean and eco-friendly industry. Cellulose creates an excellent opportunity to minimize the effect of non-degradable materials by using it as a filler for either a synthesis matrix or a natural starch matrix. It is the primary substance in the walls of plant cells, helping plants to remain stiff and upright, and can be found in plant sources, agriculture waste, animals, and bacterial pellicle. In this review, we discussed the recent research development and studies in the field of biocomposites that focused on the techniques of extracting micro- and nanocellulose, treatment and modification of cellulose, classification, and applications of cellulose. In addition, this review paper looked inward on how the reinforcement of micro- and nanocellulose can yield a material with improved performance. This article featured the performances, limitations, and possible areas of improvement to fit into the broader range of engineering applications.