| Summary: | ABSTRAK
The objective of this research is to assess tensile properties of palm oil fibers reinforced polyester composites. The fibers were obtained from a solid waste of palm oil plant located in Sumatra. The fibers were firstly separated from other waste materials and secondly washed using fresh water and subsequently dried naturally in an open space but not directly exposured by sun until the water content reached about 8%. The fibers were distributed randomly with their length approximately 4 to 6 cm. The surface offibers were observed using SEM to investigate their surface morphology.
The composites with variation offibers from 19% to 42% (w/w) were manufactured using an open mould. All samples were post cured at 62°C during 4 hours. The samples were then cut using a hand grinding machine to produce tensile specimens according to ASTM D 638 Standard. Tensile tests were carried out using a servohydraulic universal testing machine and the elongation was recorded using an extensometer. The graphs of load versus elongation resulted from the tests were analyzed to determine ultimate strength, elasticity and strain. The fracture surface was observed using SEM to analyse the fracture mechanism.
Experimental result shows that the increase of fiber content up to 42% can significantly increase the ultimate strength, i.e. 11 MPa, 14,21 MPa, 15,15 MPa, and 18,51 MPa for fiber content of 19%, 27%, 30%, 36% and 42%, respectively. The increase of fiber content up to 30% does not significantly increase the elasticity and strain. However, the elasticity and strain will increase when the fiber content is above 36%. Fracture surface of the composites was dominated by pullout mechanism.
Keywords: palm oil fiber, fiber content, tensile properties, fracture mechanism
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