Utilization of Bamboo Roots as Reinforcing Composite Materials for Light Vehicle Dashboards

Abstract

Bamboo roots are residual material from the utilization of bamboo trees’ waste. Bamboo roots utilize in engineering by making new materials in the form of composites. Bamboo roots are easy to get, and getting bamboo root fiber is relatively easy compared to getting bamboo stem fiber. Bamboo root fibers are used as reinforcement in composites with resin binders and catalysts as hardeners. The composite made by mixing the composition consists of 10% bamboo root fiber, 89% resin, and 1% catalyst from the weight of the specimen. This composition uses three variations of fiber direction; straight, random, and woven fiber—each variation tests tensile strength, impact, and bending strength. Those three test results show that the highest values come from the woven fiber, which are 21.04 MPa from the tensile strength, 0.0693 J/mm2 from the impact value, and 34.789 MPa from the bending strength value. The test result found that applying bamboo roots composite material suits dashboard material for light vehicles (cars and motorcycles). This test result meets the standard material for dashboard vehicles based on plastic material data ABS (Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene). This research on natural fiber composite material is novel and valuable as a waste utilization solution for engineering materials.