In this study, the Malaysian oil palm fiber (OPF) was extracted from empty fruit bunch (EFB) and used as a reinforcement of polymer composite materials. 10 wt.% and 25 wt.% of OPF were incorporated with polypropylene (PP) and maleated polypropylene (MAPP) to produce injection-molded composite material. For comparison purpose, virgin PP and polymer composites reinforced with wood fiber (WPC) were also fabricated as benchmark samples. From the tensile test result of 25 wt.% of fiber loading, it produced higher tensile properties of the composites. Moreover, the obtained OPF/PP composites showed comparable properties with the WPC material. The second objective of this study is to investigate the effect of fiber sizes on tensile and impact properties of both WPC and OPF/PP composite. The wood fiber and OPF were mechanically classified into several size ranges by using different mesh sieves and proceeded with the kneading and injection molding. The tensile and impact tests were carried out for each type of sample in order to verify the influence of fiber size on the tensile and impact resistance behavior of the WPC and OPF/PP composites.
The use of nano-size fillers for polymer and rubber has become a trend in composite manufacturing industries because the amount of the fillers needed to improve the bulk properties of the material can be reduced to less than the amount necessary for normal size fillers. It has been clarified, however, that the formation of small agglomerates of fillers that occurs during fabrication affects the mechanical properties of the material, such as crack initiation and propagation, and fatigue life. Therefore, fatigue tests of a nanoclay-epoxy composite material were conducted in this study. Results show that the composite fatigue life decreases with increased nanoclay contents. To investigate the effects of nanoclay agglomeration or clustering on the fatigue life, an elemental analysis of the fracture surface was conducted using an electron probe microanalyzer (EPMA). From EPMA images, several factors related with agglomerates causing the premature fatigue cracks were analyzed quantitatively and discussed further.
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