A Study Of Mechanical Properties In Relation With Morphological Structure Of PP/Kenaf Fiber Reinforced Plastic Composite

Noor Syafiq, Shaari (2009) A Study Of Mechanical Properties In Relation With Morphological Structure Of PP/Kenaf Fiber Reinforced Plastic Composite. Project Report. UTeM, Melaka, Malaysia. (Submitted)

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Abstract

This research aims to study and analyze the effects of different fiber loading and coupling agent addition on the mechanical properties and its relationship to the micro structural behavior of the kenaf fiber reinforced polypropylene composites. The main raw materials used in this project are polypropylene (PP) resin as matrix materials and kenaf fiber as reinforcement materials for the composite fabrication. Typically, the observed size of kenaf fibers used in this study is around 513.39μm. The composite panels were fabricated by using an internal mixer and compression molding machine and were then cut into the specific dimension according to the specific ASTM standard of testing. The specimens primarily were tested for the Critical Properties Analysis - Tensile Test. The best compounding formulation of composite was found at the weight percentage (wt%) of 60wt% of PP matrix and 40wt% of the kenaf fibers. Further analyses for various mechanical properties of the composite were done accordingly to all composites formulation. The microstructures of tested specimens fracture surface were observed as to understand the fracture behavior, the fiber distribution and the surface morphology and its significant correlation to the mechanical properties studied. The results showed that the increasing of fiber loading had significantly increased the mechanical properties of the fabricated composite. The introduction of 3wt% of polypropylene-graft-maleic anhydride (MAPP) was done to the best formulated composites which indicate the improvement of the interfacial adhesion between the fiber-matrix interphase through the morphology observed and also improvement in the properties studied especially in water absorption behavior. Through the study, the enhancement of fabricated composite could be applied to the structural engineering applications through the advantage of the mechanical properties performance of tensile, flexural and impact properties.

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