Investigation On Flexural And Morphological Characteristics Of Novel Hybrid Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch/ Kenaf Reinforced High Density Polyethylene Composite For Automotive Application

Moey, Chung Min (2017) Investigation On Flexural And Morphological Characteristics Of Novel Hybrid Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch/ Kenaf Reinforced High Density Polyethylene Composite For Automotive Application. Project Report. UTeM, Melaka, Malaysia. (Submitted)

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Abstract

Natural fiber composites (NFC) are aggressively being adapted into production of components and products, especially in the automotive industry, to achieve better vehicle end-of-life performance as well as to reduce the dependency of non-renewable materials. In addition, extensive research have been conducted to improve the mechanical properties of both natural fibers and polymer matrix for better bonding and load carrying characteristic of the final composites. One of the efforts is through hybridization method, whereby two different types of fiber are combined within a single matrix. The hybridization offer desirable advantage of gaining a balance between cost and performance between the combined fibers. In this research, a novel hybrid oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) and kenaf fibers was formulated, using thermoplastic high density polyethylene (HDPE) as the matrix. The aim was to investigate the flexural performance of hybrid OPEFB/ kenaf reinforced HDPE composites at varying OPEFB to kenaf fiber ratio. All samples were prepared at fix fiber to matrix ratio of 40:60 wt%. Meanwhile, the OPEFB to kenaf fiber loadings ratio were varied 0:100, 25:75, 50:50, 75:25 and 100:0 wt%. The fibers were first crushed and sieved to size between 1 to 5 mm. Hybrid fibers were later mixed with HDPE using compounding and formed into thin plates using hot compression moulding process. Finally, the sample is cut to size and characterize in accordance to the ASTM D790 for the flexural test. Findings of the research revealed that the highest flexural modulus was achieved at hybrid OPEFB:kenaf formulation of 25:75 wt% (from the total 40 wt% total fiber loadings), an increase of 6.5% compared to flexural modulus using 100% OPEFB composites. Furthermore, all hybrid formulation showed lower tensile strength compared to 100% OPEFB/HDPE composites and 100% kenaf/HDPE composites. The lowest flexural strength property was found at hybrid OPEFB:kenaf formulation of 50:50 wt%, which represent a reduction up to 16.1% from the tensile strength recorded for 100% OPEFB composites. The reason is maybe due to poor interfacial bonding between the fiber and the matrix, as observed in the fiber pull-out failure images on the fractured samples. The overall findings suggested that the hybrid OPEFB/ kenaf reinforced HDPE composites was able to slightly improve the flexural modulus of the 100% OPEFB reinforced HDPE composites, despite showing lower performance in term of flexural strength as compared to 100% OPEFB reinforced HDPE composites.

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