A Study On The Effect Of Varying Fiber Contents To The Physical And Moisture Absorption Characteristics Of Hybrid Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch/Kenaf Reinforced High Density Polyethylene Composites For Automotive Application

Aldarji, Adeb Ahmed Saeed (2017) A Study On The Effect Of Varying Fiber Contents To The Physical And Moisture Absorption Characteristics Of Hybrid Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch/Kenaf Reinforced High Density Polyethylene Composites For Automotive Application. Project Report. UTeM, Melaka, Malaysia. (Submitted)

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Abstract

Nowadays composites materials have become able to generate high quality, strong and cost-effective products. Therefore, composite materials can be found in several products which are being used in daily life applications. In addition, composites are used in several serious industrials such as aerospace, and military uses. The consumptions of economical agro-based renewable natural lignocellulosic fiber such as empty fruit palm, sisal, coir, and jute etc. in preparing composites with different thermoplastics and thermosetting resins have added much impetus in the latest years. Since Malaysia is the principal producers of palm oil, the profusion of oil palm cellulosic material that can be easily found from the products delivers a new part of attention for research improvement. The potential of utilizing oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) fibers into natural fiber composites is considering the abundance of the waste in current oil palm industry, especially in Malaysia. By hybridizing OPEFB fibers with stronger and locally available natural fiber resource, in particular kenaf fiber, the performance of the final composites can be enhanced to create higher value of the product with competitive cost. Nevertheless, information on the physical characteristics of the OPEFB/kenaf reinforced high density polyethylene (HDPE) composites is still lacking, especially on the effect of varying fiber contents to the hybrid composites density and water absorption performance. Therefore, the aim of this project is to achieve good combination of properties of hybrid OPEFB and kenaf as filler reinforced in polyethylene composites and to determine the effect of varying fiber contents to density and water absorption property. Physical test according to ASTM D792 were conducted by calculating the mass and the specific density of the samples. In addition, the standard deviation of the samples were calculated related to the mass and specific density. The expected value of the mass standard deviation is 0.07985g which obtains from sample (A). While the expected value of the specific density standard deviation is 0.004176 which obtains from sample (B). Water absorption test according to ASTM D570 were conducted by immersing the five samples in a distilled water bath at room temperature for different time duration. The samples were weighted within 30 seconds and they were immersed again. Same process were repeated to the samples after immersing them for 24, 48, 72, 144, 168, 192, 216 and 240 hours. The percentage of the water in the composites were calculated by weight difference between the samples immersed in water and the dry samples. The result obtained from the water absorption test shows that with increasing the time of immersing the samples in distilled water, the moisture absorption increases.

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