Fiber Layer Shapes and Fiber Layer Number Effects on Toughness of Nata De Coco Fiber and Polyester Matrix Composite

Rangga, Waspialdi Sardi (2015) Fiber Layer Shapes and Fiber Layer Number Effects on Toughness of Nata De Coco Fiber and Polyester Matrix Composite. Diploma thesis, UNIVERSITAS ANDALAS.

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Abstract

Composites are one of interesting material used lately, because it is lighter than metal relatively and also strong. So then development and application of composite material is rapidly increase, particularly polymer matrix composite. Polymer matrix composite applied as an alternative metal-based material. Natural fibers are more popular used as reinforcement for polymer matrix composite than synthetic fiber such as fiber glass. In additional, natural fibers are friendly environment, more economic, and also excessive availability in nature are some consideration to choose natural fiber. The problem to produce a composite is how to determine the ratio of matrix and its reinforcement, whereas matrix and reinforcement ratio would be able to deliver good mechanical properties. Polyester is used as matrix and nata de coco is used as reinforcement in this research. Fiber alkalization treatment and acetone liquid immersion were applied for nata de coco fibers before it composed with the matrix. Impact testing was applied to obtain the toughness of composite and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) was used to analyse the fracture surface of composite. Based on the result can be determined that three fiber layers were the best ratio inside matrix to deliver optimum mechanical properties. On the other hand, adding holes in the fiber was reducing the toughness of composite. Keywords: Polyester, Nata de coco, Toughness, Impact

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