Mechanical properties of short random oil palm fibre reinforced epoxy composites

• Main Authors: Mohd Zuhri Mohamed Yusoff,, Mohd Sapuan Salit,, Napsiah Ismail,, Riza Wirawan,
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2010
• Online Access: http://journalarticle.ukm.my/7309/1/03.pdf; http://journalarticle.ukm.my/7309/; http://www.ukm.my/jsm/english_journals/vol39num1_2010/contentsVol39num1_2010.html

This paper presents the study of mechanical properties of short random oil palm fibre reinforced epoxy (OPF/epoxy) composites. Empty fruit bunch (EFB) was selected as the fibre and epoxy as the matrix. Composite plate with four different volume fractions of oil palm fibre was fabricated, (5 vol%, 10 vol%, 15 vol% and 20 vol%). The fabrication was made by hand-lay up techniques. The tensile and flexural properties showed a decreasing trend as the fibre loading was increased. The highest tensile properties was obtained for the composite with fibre loading of 5 vol% and there were no significant effect for addition of more than 5 vol% to the flexural properties. Interaction between fibre and matrix was observed from the scanning electron microscope (SEM) micrograph.