Orientation Effect On Mechanical Properties of Kenaf Reinforced Polypropylene Composite

Polymer composite is widely used in many applications such as automotive, aerospace,
piping system and medical tools. The advantages of polymer composite include light
weight, high performance to weight ratio and minimum environmental impact. Studies
on the influence of long fiber orientation on mechanical properties were rarely done.
If long fibers are placed in both longitudinal and transverse directions, the mechanical
properties are expected to be improved in both directions. To verify this hypothesis,
this project was proposed. The objective of this project was to study the effect of kenaf
fiber orientation on the tensile strength and flexural properties of the PP/kenaf composites.
In this project, polypropylene was used as matrix and kenaf was used as reinforcement.
The orientation of the kenaf fiber was varied. The composite was produced from two
sheets of polypropylene and kenaf fiber was placed in the middle of the sheets. This
processing technique was referred to compression moulding with laminate approach.
The fiber in the middle was aligned into 5 orientations and each orientation underwent
tensile and flexural tests. The highest tensile strength and flexural properties were
obtained in unidirectional fiber orientation. Improvement of 145%, 24% and 65% were
achieved in tensile strength, flexural strength and flexural modulus, respectively.