Production and characterisation of roofing materials from natural fibres

• Main Author: Xuan, Leong Yi
• Format: Undergraduates Project Papers
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: TA Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General)
• Online Access: http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/7081/1/PENGHASILAN_DAN_PENCIRIAN_BAHAN_BUMBUNG_DARIPADA_GENTIAN_ASLI.pdf; http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/7081/

Natural fibres are extracted from plants and they are widely being used as the reinforcement of composites in producing roofing materials. However, natural fibres are facing several problems such as poor wettability, incompatibility with some polymeric matrices and high moisture absorption. Modern roofing materials are also expensive and non-biodegradable. Low production cost and biodegradable roofing materials can be produced by using natural fibres reinforced composites (NFRC). The effects of resin curing agent (RCA) percentage and fibre layer amount of NFRC on thermal and mechanical properties were studied. The kenaf fibre was prepared in mat shaped and unsaturated polyester was cured with 10, 15 and 20% of RCA (2-Butanone peroxide). Kenaf-polyester composite (KPC) was synthesised by using 1 and 2 layers of kenaf fibre layer which mixed with cured polyester by using hand lay-up method. After that, test specimens for tensile test, Charpy impact test and water absorption test were prepared. Mechanical tests were carried out to evaluate the properties of KPC. The KPC tensile and impact strengths were increased with the RCA percentage and kenaf fibre layer due to the increment of cross linker between polymer chains and degree of obstruction. However, the increment of fibre layer increased the water absorption of composites due to the hydrophilic properties of kenaf fibre. Thermal tests like thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis were carried out to evaluate the thermal stability of composites. Increment of RCA percentages and fibre layers decreased the degradation temperatures of composites which decreased the thermal stability of composites. Nevertheless, increment of RCA percentage and fibre layers increased the melting points of composites. It could be concluded that roofing materials are suitable to be produced by KPC after the optimisation of fibre layer amount and RCA percentage effect.