ENHANCING MECHANICAL PERFORMANCE OF EPOXY-BASED HYBRID COMPOSITES USING ALKALI-TREATED PINEAPPLE LEAF FIBER AND MWCNT
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11113/jurnalteknologi.v88.25032Keywords:
Hybrid Composite, Natural Fiber, MWCNT, alkali treatment, mechanical propertiesAbstract
The increasing interest in environmentally friendly materials in industries such as automotive, civil construction, and packaging has encouraged a lot of research related to environmentally friendly composites using natural fibers as reinforcement. This study is conducted to evaluate the performance of epoxy resin as a matrix with pineapple leaf fiber and multi wall carbon nanotube powder (MWCNT) as the reinforcements in hybrid composites. Pineapple leaf fiber is alkali treated by soaking the fiber in 5%wt alkali solution. The fibers are woven into unidirectional fiber sheets. A proper manufacturing process obtains quality unidirectional composites, which is carried out by configuring volume fraction ratio and matrix 30% and 70%, respectively. Hybrid composites, which consist of five fiber sheets with a configuration of pineapple leaf fibers, mixed with epoxy resin matrix and supplemented with MWCNT of 0.1, 0.3; 0.5 and 1 wt%, are composed by vacuum infusion method. The results show that alkali treatment improves the mechanical properties of epoxy/pineapple leaf fiber hybrid composites. The most optimal MWCNT content is obtained at 0.5%wt, resulted in a rise of tensile strength by 26.70%, bending strength by 17.82%, and impact toughness by 5.90%. Fiber alkali treatment and MWCNT addition to the hybrid composite increase water absorption. The existence of a good interface bond between pineapple leaf fibers and the matrix is indicated by the visible epoxy matrix and MWCNT particles which stick to the pineapple leaf fibers surface, proved by the FE-SEM observations.
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