An Investigation of Kenaf Plant Fibers as Reinforcements in Interwoven Kenaf/Polyethylene Terephthalate (Pet)/Epoxy Hybrid Green Composites

Abstract

Renewable materials have some bearing on the environment and have since increased research works related to polymer composites. This work was conducted to investigate the effects of interwoven kenaf fibers and the use of kenaf fibers in composites. In this research, interwoven between kenaf and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) was prepared and epoxy was used as the polymer matrix to form composites. The kenaf fiber composites with various kenaf fiber contents (2, 5, 8, and 10 wt %) interwoven with (PET) fibers were prepared by using open mould method. The properties of kenaf/PET/epoxy composites (KPTE) were studied. The kenaf fiber composites characterization was determined based on their mechanical properties, water absorption, morphology and thermal properties. The tensile strength test was performed using Testometric machine. The finding shows that the strength increases as the amount of kenaf fibers in the composites increases. The composites with 10% kenaf fibers interwoven PET displayed the highest tensile strength (85.3 ± 2.9 MPa) while unfilled epoxy show the lowest tensile strength (64.1 ± 16.5 MPa). The addition of kenaf fibers minimally increases the water absorption up to about 1.4%. The increases of kenaf fibers also reduces the overall thermal stability of the composites compared to the PET and epoxy resin composites. The morphology properties of KPTE composites support the tensile properties surface of the composites. This study assists to propose the kenaf fibers as a potential filler for properties improvements in epoxy-based composites contributing to the development of another environment-friendly material.