Study on Effect of 5 wt. % of Coconut Fiber Reinforcement on Tensile and Flexural Properties of Epoxy Based Composites

• Main Author: AZFAR BIN JASNI, AZFAR
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Teknologi Petronas 2012
• Subjects: TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery
• Online Access: http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/5504/1/Azfar%20Jasni%2011441%20Dissertation.pdf; http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/5504/

Fiber reinforced polymer based composites have been used in many type of applications in industry for a long time for their high specific strength and modulus. In Malaysia, there are a lot of natural fibers available, thus in this study, an investigation has been carried out to make used of coir, the natural fiber as the reinforcement in reinforced polymer. Natural fibers are not only strong and lightweight but also they have relatively very cheap. The objective of the present study is to investigate the effect of 5 wt. % of reinforcement on tensile and flexural properties on coconut fiber reinforced epoxy composites and coconut powder reinforced epoxy composites. The study has shown that for 5wt. % of reinforcement, coconut powder reinforced epoxy composites have better tensile strength (31.67 GPa), Young’s modulus (2.44 GPa), flexural strength (68.23 MPa) and flexural modulus (2518.85 MPa) compared to the coconut short fiber reinforced epoxy composites, with the percentage difference of 32.53%, 19.00 %, 41.89% and 15.34% respectively. Optical Microscope of fractured surface has been carried out to study their surface morphology and it shows that coconut powder reinforced epoxy composites have a better surface area and uniform distribution of coconut filler in the epoxy matrix.