The Effect of Bamboo Charcoal Powder on the Tensile Strength of Wood Plastic Composite

Abstract

This research study was focused on the effect of bamboo charcoal powder on the tensile strength of wood plastic composite reinforced with rice husk ash (silica). This study used 3 different proportions of composite that is 10% bamboo charcoal powder-90% polypropylene, 20% bamboo charcoal powder-80% polypropylene and 30% bamboo charcoal powder-70% polypropylene with added rice husk ash of 0%, 5% and 10%. The size of the particle for the bamboo charcoal powder is 60μm. The method used to produce this wood plastic composite is by mixing and injection molding method. The test performed on the sample is tensile test and surface morphological test. It is observed that the tensile strength of the composite increased when the percentage of rice husk ash added increased. The highest tensile strength of the composite is at 10% rice husk ash reinforced with 10% bamboo charcoal powder and 90% polypropylene with value of 23.15 MPa. Overall, the proportion of 10% rice husk ash reinforced with 10% bamboo charcoal powder and 90% polypropylene showed the best result to enhance the wood plastic composite.