A Mechanical Study On Cocoa Husk – Glass Fibre/ Polypropylene (PP) Hybrid Composite

Intan Salafinas, Ahmad (2009) A Mechanical Study On Cocoa Husk – Glass Fibre/ Polypropylene (PP) Hybrid Composite. Project Report. UTeM, Melaka, Malaysia. (Submitted)

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Abstract

This research presents the ‘Mechanical Study on Cocoa husk – glass fiber/ polypropylene (PP) hybrid composite. The purposes of doing this research are to determine the effect of various fiber loading and fiber sizes of cocoa husk into mechanical properties of cocoa husk- glass fiber / polypropylene hybrid composite and to analyze the morphology behaviour of the hybrid composite in relation to their mechanical properties. In this project, the cocoa husk particles, E-glass fiber with the length of 3mm and polypropylene pellet are used to form hybrid composite with the weight ratio 88.33/5/6.67, 86.66/6.67/6.67, and 85/8.33/6.67. The size of cocoa husk particles was characterized by using Laser Particle analysis. The specimens were fabricated by using the Internal Mixer, crusher and compression-moulding machine to form the composite sheet. The composite sheets were then cut into the dimension as required by ASTM standard. The specimens were divided two categories; one was subjected to mechanical testing and another one was subjected to water absorption testing. The effects of cocoa husk fiber loading and size fiber on the tensile properties, flexural properties and impact properties of the specimen were observed. The dry specimens were then further analyzed with the morphology analysis on the microstructure surface of the specimen by using the SEM. The results showed that the cocoa husk fiber filled composite had increased the tensile strength and tensile modulus as the cocoa husk fiber increased. The optimal flexural properties of the PP/E-glass/cocoa husk hybrid composite were found at the weight ratio of 88.33/5/6.67 with the size of 250μm. the morphology behaviours showed that the bonding between E-glass and matrix are poor and the structure of cocoa husk that embedded with composite are not see clearly. It shows that the bonding between cocoa particle and matrix are stronger than E-glass. To solve the problems and to increase the bonding of fiber and matrix, the coupling agent is need to be use for cocoa husk and E-glass. The fabrications of sample were giving an effect to the final results. From the observation, it shows that defects such as bubbles, impurity and unmelted material were decreased the ability of the composite materials.

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