Abstract
Kenaf is a nonwoody fibrous plant, and its fibre can be potentially used as a reinforcement in the matrix to produce biocomposite materials. The properties of biocomposite materials are highly dependent on the reinforcing material and the matrix used as a binder. This study used kenaf fibre as a reinforcing material with different compositions (10, 20, and 30 wt.%) and different fibre lengths (1 cm and 3 cm) in the matrix using the casting process. Low viscosity epoxy resin (635 thin epoxy resin) with a viscosity of 6 poise was used as the matrix. The results showed that the highest flexural strength, impact strength and shore hardness were obtained at a 30 wt.% kenaf fibre composition with a 1-cm kenaf fibre length, namely, 85 MPa, 338 KJ/m2 and 98 SHD, respectively. The length of the fibre in the matrix affects the mechanical properties of the resulting biocomposite. This condition is caused by kenaf fibres with a length of 1 cm being more dispersed in the matrix than fibres with a length of 3 cm.
Highlights
Kenaf belongs to the Malvaceae family and is a nonwoody fibrous plant
Barkoula et al [3] reported that biocomposites produced using injection moulding produced lower impact strength values than those produced using compression moulding
Zampaloni et al [5] used kenaf fibres as a reinforcing material and polypropylene (PP) as a binder. They arranged 130-mm-long kenaf fibres between two layers of PP sheets. They found that the distribution of kenaf fibres in the PP matrix was poor in the resulting biocomposite material
Summary
Kenaf belongs to the Malvaceae family and is a nonwoody fibrous plant. Kenaf fibres have the potential to be used as fillers or reinforcements in polymer matrices. Zamri et al [9] conducted research on the effect of different fibre compositions and sizes using kenaf fibre as the reinforcement and polyester resin as the matrix They found that the highest fibre loading concentration (70 vol%) resulted in the highest flexural and compressive strength properties in the resulting biocomposite material, namely, 280 MPa and 75.73 MPa, respectively. Suriani et al [10] conducted a study using kenaf fibres and epoxy to produce hybrid polymer composite materials They reported that the tensile strength of hybrid kenaf fibre/PET yarn increased with increasing fibre volume content. This research was conducted to investigate the effect of adding kenaf fibres with different fibre lengths (1 cm and 3 cm) as a reinforcement and epoxy resin as a matrix on the flexural strength, impact strength and hardness of the biocomposite material obtained
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