Mechanical And Physical Properties Of Sandwich Structures Made From Chopped Strand Mat Coconut Fiber Filled With Polyurethane Foam

Tan, Teng Teng (2012) Mechanical And Physical Properties Of Sandwich Structures Made From Chopped Strand Mat Coconut Fiber Filled With Polyurethane Foam. Project Report. UTeM, Melaka, Malaysia. (Submitted)

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Abstract

Sandwich composite is a very expensive engineering material. However, due to its multiple advantages such as light weight and high strength, its demand is relatively high. In this project, the natural material fiber was intended to replace the synthetic fiber in the core to reduce its dependency on synthetic fiber. At the same time, it helps to reduce the cost and conserve the environment by reducing natural waste material. The research proved that the green natural fiber was substitutable in sandwich composite with compatible mechanical and physical characteristics that were required. On the other hand, the materials and process involved were relatively simple and cost effective. The materials needed were glass fiber, coconut fiber, polyurethane and polyester. The sandwich composite was done via hand lay-up technique and pressed under Hydraulic Press Machine with I tonne pressure. After that, the sandwich structure was cured under room temperature. The sandwich produced was tested using ASTM standard for tensile test, shear test, flexural test, tlatwise compressive test, edgewise compressive test as well as water absorption and swelling test to know its mechanical and physical characteristics. Test sample SN 1 made up solely core that consisted of chopped strand mat coconut fiber filled with polyurethane foam. This foam core structure applied for all the samples. SN 2 to SN 5 each had glass fiber sandwiching the core with SN 2 consisted of a ply of glass fiber. This combination increased a ply of glass fiber for each serial number with SN 5 had a total of four plies of glass fiber. In the nutshell, SN 5 proved to perform most significantly and outstandingly in terms of its mechanical and physical properties.

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