The Effects of Water Content towards the Packaging Properties of Paper Made from Coconut Coir

This research is about an attempt to evaluate the effect of water contents towards the packaging properties of paper made from coconut coir, which was being processed manually through beating times method. The purpose of this investigation is to relate the composition of coconut fibre and water content with the tensile strength and tear factor. The composition starts from sample A, which has 90% of water and 10% of coconut fibre. The sample continues with 10% decreasing content of water and 10% increment of coconut coir. Base on tensile test and tear test results, graphs were plotted and it shows sample D, with 60% of water and 40% of coconut coir has produced the highest tensile strength, breaking length and tensile index, with the value of 1020.6 N/m, 422.8 m and 4.1450 Nm/g respectively. On the other hand, sample A produced the highest tear factor, with the value of 92.7 g/mm². As a conclusion, these packaging properties are good enough to become guidance in paper manufacturing industry, as well as to support the application of coconut coir fibre as an alternative packaging material in the future.