Effects of High-Temperature Exposure on the Mechanical Properties of Kenaf Composites

Abstract

Automotive parts, including dashboards and trunk covers, are now fabricated through a compression-molding process in order to produce lightweight products and optimize fuel consumption. However, their mechanical strength is not compromised to avoid safety issues. Therefore, this study investigates kenaf-fiber-reinforced polypropylene composites using a simple combing approach to unidirectionally align kenaf fibers at 0°. The kenaf composite was found to withstand a maximal temperature of 120 °C. The tensile and flexural strengths of the aligned kenaf composites (50 and 90 MPa, respectively) were three times higher than those of the commercialized Product T (between 39 and 30.5 MPa, respectively) at a temperature range of 90 to 120 °C. These findings clearly showed that the mechanical properties of aligned kenaf fibers fabricated through the combing technique were able to withstand high operating temperatures (120 °C), and could be used as an alternative to other commercial natural-fiber products.

Effect of fique fibers and its processing by-products on morphology, thermal and mechanical properties of epoxy based biocomposites

“…This selection was due to higher modulus and resistance achieved during tensile and flexural tests. The fique fibers oriented parallel to the applied load during the mechanical tests and the stiffening effect of the fibers allowed to obtain a rigid biocomposite material with tensile and flexural strength (36.6 and 21.2 MPa, respectively) comparable to other automotive commercial products reported in the literature 18 . Also, the resin film infusion processing could generate a considerable pressure within the mold, which then allows for a homogeneous compaction of fique fibers and EP during the curing.…”

“…Previous studies performed on PP-Kenaf 18 and HDPE-henequen 19 biocomposites suggested that biocomposites with fibers oriented parallel to the applied load (0°) were able to contribute the same applied load and possessed a much longer fiber structure due to minimal fiber breakage. Thus, aiding in the strengthening of the biocomposite structure due to a homogeneous distribution of the load.…”

“…Thus, aiding in the strengthening of the biocomposite structure due to a homogeneous distribution of the load. On the other hand, 90° orientation biocomposites supports less tensile loads and resulted in a higher fibers breakage 18,19 . Therefore, the mechanical performance of EP-fique biocomposites is highly dependent on the structure and the fibers orientation angle.…”

Fabrication, Mechanical Testing and Structural Simulation of Regenerated Cellulose Fabric Elium® Thermoplastic Composite System

“…The supports and the load, which are presented as a cylinder with a diameter of 5 mm, were modelled as rigid. The modulus was obtained from the experiment and density, and Poisson's ratios were 1.29 g/cm 3 and 0.37 [24,25], respectively. Coulomb friction was used to model the friction between surfaces with a coefficient equal to 0.2 [26].…”

Propionic Anhydride Modification of Cellulosic Kenaf Fibre Enhancement with Bionanocarbon in Nanobiocomposites

“…The inherent biodegradability, renewability and non-toxicity potentials of kenaf fibres is attracting increasing attention. The utilisation of kenaf fibre as reinforcement agent in composite applications has been extensively reported in literature [ 3 , 4 , 5 ]. Ariawan et al [ 6 ] incorporated kenaf fibre for the reinforcement of composites and reported improved mechanical and thermal properties compared to unreinforced kenaf fibre.…”