Tensile and Flexural Performance of Polypropylene Based Oil Palm Fibre Reinforced Metal Laminates

Abstract

In this research, the effects of fibre composition on the tensile and flexural performance of Oil Palm Fibre Metal Laminates have been experimentally investigated. OPFMLs are constituted of aluminium 6061 and oil palm empty fruit bunch fibre reinforced polypropylene composite. OPFMLs with four different fibre weight compositions (10%, 20%, 30% and 40%) were manufactured in 2/1 configuration. OPFMLs and their respective composite layers were prepared through hot press moulding compression technique using hot press machine. The mechanical properties of OPFMLs were characterised by tensile and flexural tests in accordance with ASTM D3039 and ASTM D790 respectively. Results showed that tensile and flexural performances of OPFMLs depend on fibre composition in the composite layer. It was found that increase in fibre composition increased the tensile strength but decreased the flexural strength. OPFMLs with 40 wt% showed the highest tensile strength of 65.99MPa whereas OPFMLs with 30 wt% showed the highest flexural strength of 152.45MPa. The optical microscopic images showed damage mechanisms in OPFMLs for different fibre weight composition, which includes delamination and debonding.