Application Of Coconut Fiber-PP Composite For Fabrication On Interior Part Of Automotive Component

Maidin, Nur Fadhilah (2017) Application Of Coconut Fiber-PP Composite For Fabrication On Interior Part Of Automotive Component. Project Report. UTeM, Melaka, Malaysia. (Submitted)

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Abstract

This study investigates the mechanical and physical properties of coconut fiber when reinforced with polypropylene (PP). Coconut or coir fibers were extracted from a bundle of fiber that obtained from the outer layer of the coconut palm. The extraction process was done manually by using cutter. The coconut fibers were treated using sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution for 2 hours (at room temperature) to reduce surface roughness. Samples of the composite were fabricated with fiber’s length of less than 10mm and four loading levels of CFB (10, 20, 30, and 40 wt%). The fabrication of composites was made by using hot press machine model of GT-7014-A until it becomes a thin plate. Physical and mechanical test such as tensile, hardness and density tests were conducted to investigate the effect of increment loading level of CFB in the composite, while the microstructure analysis was conduct to study and analyze the microstructure of the specimen after the tensile test. The experimental results shown that the composite with lowest percentage of CFB which is 10 wt% gave the highest value of tensile strength, tensile strain and maximum load which is 21.3MPa, 0.034 and 1065.24N respectively. Meanwhile, the lowest tensile strength is 17.56MPa which is obtained when the 40 wt% of CFB loading is used in the composite. The hardness and density of the CFB/PP composites showed significantly decreased from 10 wt% to 40 wt% CFB loading. The composite that gave the highest result in hardness test means that it is has high stiffness and able to withstand the given load. Meanwhile, low density means that the composite is not easily to sink when it is immerse in the water. The highest results from hardness test and density test are 67 Shore-D and 1.002 g/cm³ respectively. The results also revealed that alkaline treatment really influences the mechanical properties of CFB/PP composite because alkaline water caused to lower cellulose content on the surface of coconut fibers during surface treatment.

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