The Tensile Strength of Petung Bamboo Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Composites: The Effects of Alkali Treatment, Composites Manufacturing, and Water Absorption

Abstract

Natural fiber application due to its competitiveness attracted many research in green composites. However, the tensile properties of natural fiber composites might be influenced by several factors such as treatment of the fibers, manufacturing processes, and water absorption levels. In this research, we use petung bamboo fibers as natural fibers candidate for a good reinforcement in green composites. The study focused on the tensile property of bamboo fiber reinforced epoxy composites due to alkali treatment, manufacturing process, and water absorption. The composites were made with three variations: the fibers were varied without and with alkaline treatment (5% NaOH); manual lay-up method and hot press were applied as manufacturing variation; moisture content in the composites was varied in dry condition and after water absorption treatment. Tensile testing and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), were performed to improve tensile strength of composite and fiber-matrix interface quality. The alkali treatment has less effect to the tensile strength than of the volume fraction gain and the void content. Composite manufacturing by hot press has a significant effect to the improvement of tensile strength up to 37% compare to the hand lay-up method. Water absorption up to 8.8% had decreased the tensile strength of composites up to 29%. The alkali treatment on the bamboo fibers had effectively reduced water absorption into the composite as well as the tensile strength reduction.