Injection Molding of BMC-filled Bagasse Fiber.

Abstract

The strength of BMC using bagasse filler was experimentally investigated in relation to three factors, i. e., the shape, fiber length and amount (weight content) of bagasse. BMC(bulk molding compound) is composed of glass fiber, unsaturated polyester and filler. In this study the tiller used is plant bagasse fiber. Bagasse is the refuse of sugar cane. Of significant interest is that the shape of bagasse fiber is needle like and it resembles glass fiber. This is an advantage to make bagasse tangle easily with glass fiber in kneading process, and is helpful for fixing the glass fiber to matrix during solidification. Therefore the bagasse fiber is effective in increasing the strength. Hence the mixture with bagasse and glass fiber is designed to tangle itself. As the content volume of bagasse fiber reaches 23% weight content, the tension strength shows the highest value. The magnitude of its strength depends essentially on the size of the bagasse fiber. Bagasse is found to be suitable as a filler for BMC.