Tezara Cionita

Effect of Fibre Loading on the Flexural Properties of Natural Fibre Reinforced Polymer Composites

The use of pineapple leaf fibres as reinforcement in plastics had increased rapidly in past few years. Thus this project was conducted to determine and compare the flexural strength of pure epoxy and pineapple leaf fibres reinforced epoxy. The natural fibres were mixed with epoxy and hardener by weight percentage fibre content. The process employed to fabricate the specimens was hand lay-up and the natural fibres was oriented randomly. The dimensions of the specimens for flexure test were based on ASTM D790 respectively. The results obtained shows that 15% PALF reinforced epoxy composite achieved the highest flexural strength among the natural fibers reinforced epoxy composites.

Tensile Properties of Pineapple Leaf Fibre Reinforced Unsaturated Polyester Composites

In recent years natural fibres such as sisal, jute, kenaf, pineapple leaf and banana fibres appear to be the outstanding materials which come as the viable and abundant substitute for the expensive and non-renewable synthethic fibre. This paper investigate the effect of fibre length and fibre content on the tensile properties of pineapple leaf fibre (PALF) reinforced unsaturated polyester (UP) composites. PALF as reinforcement agent will be employed with UP to form composite material specimens. The various of fiber length (<0.5, 0.5–1, and 1-2 mm) and fibre content (0, 5, 10 and 15 % by volume) in UP composite have been studied. The fabrication of PALF/UP composites used hand lay-up process, and the specimens for tensile test prepared follow the ASTM D3039. The result obtained from this study show that the 1-2 mm fibre length has higher tensile strength (42 MPa) and tensile modulus (1344 MPa) values compared to fibre length of <0.5 mm (30 MPa and 981 MPa) and 0.5-1 mm (35.40 MPa and 1020 MPa) respectively. Meanwhile, for the effect of various fibre content in study has shown that the increase of fibre content has decreased in tensile strength dan tensile modulus of composites. The increase of fibre content due to poor interfacial bonding and poor wetting of the fibre by unsaturated polyster. The treatment of natural fibre are suggested in order to improve the interfacial adhesion between natural fibre and the unsaturated polyester.

Mechanical Properties of Mengkuang Leave Fiber Reinforced Low Density Polyethylene Composites

Mengkuang (Pandanus tectorius) grows abundantly in the coastal region of Southeast Asia. To date, the application of mengkuang leaves fiber (MLF) as reinforcement in polymer matrix is still limited in literature making its potential as reinforced material remain unknown. Therefore, this chapter focuses on the tensile properties, flexural, and impact properties of (MLF)/LDPE composite fabricated through the hot compression machine. In this study, the effect of volume fraction, fiber length of MLF was investigated. Two main groups of MLF/LDPE composite samples were established. The first group consists of different fiber mesh size range (<0.5 mm, 0.5–8 mm, and 1–2 mm) with constant volume fraction (10 wt%) while in another group volume fraction is varying (10, 20, and 30 wt%) but constant fiber length (<0.5 mm). Further investigation was conducted by treating the MLF/LDPE composite of volume fraction 30 wt% and fiber length 0.5 mm with maleic anhydride polyethylene (MAPE) with loading content of 2, 4, and 6 wt% The surface fracture of each samples was analyzed via scanning electron microscope. The result from both groups is compared to the pure LDPE. From the result, it can be concluded that both volume fraction and fiber length do not improve tensile properties and impact properties of MLF/LDPE composite. However, the flexural strength of MLF/LDPE increased significantly. A similar result was obtained when MLF/LDPE composite was treated with the MAPE.

Influence of Selected Treatment on Tensile Properties of Short Pineapple Leaf Fiber Reinforced Tapioca Resin Biopolymer Composites

This work reports the influence of various treatments of pineapple leaf fibers (PALF) reinforced tapioca biopolymer (TBP) on the tensile properties. Three different treatments were selected, such as maleic anhydride polypropylene (MAPP) compatibility, maleic anhydride polyethylene (MAPE) compatibility and alkali treatment. Samples with 10% of PALF composition with different concentrations of MAPP and MAPE (1%, 3%, 5% and 7% by weight) and samples with three different treatments were prepared with different PALF compositions (10%, 20%, 30% and 40% by weight). Results revealed that PALF–TBP with 7% of MAPP showed the highest tensile strength and good interfacial adhesion with the matrix as evidenced by the Scanning electron microscopy analysis. Moreover, the chemical analysis by Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy demonstrated that the MAPP had improved the PALF compatibility and matrix interfaces. Findings suggested that PALF–TBP composites have a great potential to be used for products in engineering applications.

Electrochemical Behaviour of High Stress Steel (AISI 4340) in CO2 Environments with the Presence of H2 Gas

This research studied the effect of CO2 and H2 gas on electrochemical behaviour of high stress steel (HSS) by using scan polarization graph to measure corrosion rate, corrosion potential and pitting potential. The tensile test samples with and without notches were tested under constant stress of 20% and immersed in 3% NaCl solutions. During experiments, CO2 gas was injected into the samples. To generate H2 gas, the samples were employed cathodically over potential at - 1700 mV (Ag/AgCl) for three days. The results indicated that both CO2 and H2 gases have increased the corrosion rate. Potentiodynamic graph showed that there were changes in pitting potential where the effect of CO2 gas would decrease the pitting potential. However, the presence of the notch did not show any significant difference in corrosion rate.

Measurement of Indoor Air Quality Parameters in Daycare Centres in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

This paper focuses on the monitoring of indoor air quality parameters, namely: indoor temperature, humidity, velocity, particulate matter, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide in day care centres. This study selected 15 day care centres located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. These day care centres were categorized as follows: (1) day care centers near an industrial area, (2) day care centers near a main road, and (3) day care centers in a residential area. The obtained data showed that the values for the indoor air quality parameters in all day care centres were still well below the recommended value according to the Department of Safety and Health, Malaysia. The day care centers near an industrial area had the highest value of carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide as compared to the day care centers near a main road and the day care centers in a residential area. The average concentrations of carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide in the day care centers near an industrial area were 3.67 ppm and 801.56 ppm respectively. Meanwhile, the carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide in the day care centers near a main road area and the day care centers in a residential area were 3.13 ppm, 768.22 ppm, 2.92 ppm and 733.70 ppm, respectively.