Water content and nail head pulled-through strength of epoxy/Sumberejo kenaf fiber composite with fiber orientation 0°/0°/0°/0° and 0°/90°/0°/90°.

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]