Analysis of mechanical strength of weight fraction variation sugar palm fiber as polypropylene-elastomer matrix reinforcement of hybrid composite

I Gusti Ngurah Nitya Santhiarsa,I Gusti Ayu Agung Praharsini,I Gusti Agung Alit Suryawati,Pratikto Pratikto

doi:10.15587/1729-4061.2021.238507

I Gusti Ngurah Nitya Santhiarsa, I Gusti Ayu Agung Praharsini + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.15587/1729-4061.2021.238507

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Abstract

Currently, the availability of polypropylene, elastomer and sugar palm fiber (Arenga pinnata) is very abundant, which has a good impact on the potential for the development of new composite materials that have good properties and characteristics. Composites are generally a new material composed of two or more different materials with the aim of producing a new material that has better properties than the constituent material. In this study, polypropylene (PP) plastic and elastomer were used as a composite matrix reinforced with sugar palm fiber (Arenga pinnata). The purpose of this study was to determine the value of tensile strength, impact strength, and bending strength of composites with a weight fraction of 20 % (80:20), 30 % (70:30), and 40 % (60:40). Based on the results of the research on hybrid composites of polypropylene and fiber-reinforced elastomers, composites with a weight fraction of 20 % (80:20) got the lowest tensile strength value of 1.153 MPa, while composites with a weight fraction of 40 % (60:40) obtained the highest tensile strength value of 2.613 MPa. Composites with a weight fraction of 20 % (80:20) got the lowest tensile strain value of 0.0049 and the highest tensile strain value of 0.0067 was found in composites with a weight fraction of 40 % (60:40). For the impact strength, the 40 % (40:60) weight fraction composite got the lowest value of 45248.234 kJ/mm2, while the 20 % (80:20) weight fraction composite got the highest impact strength of 17649.97 kJ/mm2. For bending strength results, the composite with a weight fraction of 20 % (80:20) obtained the lowest bending strength of 1.7778 MPa, while the composite with a weight fraction of 30 % (70:30) obtained the highest bending strength of 4.8867 MPa. The highest bending strain was found in the composite with a weight fraction of 20 % (80:20), which was 0.0207.

Highlights

Polypropylene (PP) is a commodity polymer with versatile properties, which can be further modified in various ways
This study aims to analyze the mechanical strength of the sugar palm fiber weight fraction as a hybrid polypropylene-elastomer composite matrix reinforcement
This study showed that the hybridization of Oil palm empty fruit bunches (OPEFB)/sugarcane fiber (SCB) fiber composites resulted in better performance and properties than those of pure fiber composites

Summary

Introduction

Polypropylene (PP) is a commodity polymer with versatile properties, which can be further modified in various ways. Judging from its versatility, PP production is one of the largest among other commodity polymers. Polypropylene can be produced by molecular polymerization, which is why many scientists choose PP because of its low production cycle, low cost, and good properties. PP is very commonly used because it has good properties for composite fabrication [2, 3]. Composites with good properties and characteristics are the result of the right mixture of fiber and matrix materials. Many of today’s composites are made of smart materials such as shape memory polymers (SMP), piezoelectric, magneto-electro-elastic (MEE), electrorheological (ER) [4,5,6]

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