Abstract
The use of natural plant fibres, especially palm trees, benefits from reinforcement with polymer composites to enhance material properties that can be widely used in various applications. Considering awareness in many areas likely safety, environmental impact, health issues and saving for composite structures, the tensile properties of untreated oil palm trunk (OPT) and oil palm trunk reinforced with epoxy (OPTE) composites have been investigated. The untreated OPT and OPTE were varied with angle fibre orientation 0° zone I, 0° zone II, 0° zone III, 30°, 45°, 60° and 90°, respectively. The OPTE composites were fabricated using the vacuum-assisted resin transfer moulding (VARTM) technique. The mechanical properties were analysed by ASTM D3039. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis results show the different failure modes of tensile specimens. The VARTM technique shows promising tensile strength results when compared to the available data. The results show the increase of tensile strength in OPTE. The 0° of OPTE composite exhibited the highest tensile strength.
Published Version
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