Mechanical and physical properties of wood plastic composite made from hybrid coconut and kenaf fiber / Syahirah Nur Syazwanie Md Amin

Composite materials are materials made from two or more constituent materials with
significantly different physical or chemical properties, that when combined, produce a
material with characteristics different from the individual components. While a hybrid
composite refers to a special type of composite which contains more than one fibre material
as reinforcing filler. The eco-friendly nature as well as the processing advantage, light weight
and low cost have enhanced the attraction and interest of the natural fibre reinforced
composite. Combination of both wood or fiber waste and plastic able to produce wood plastic
composite. The objectives of present study are to study the effect of different filler loading on
mechanical and physical properties of the wood plastic composite made from hybrid coconut
and kenaf fiber. Also, the effects of lignocellulosic fiber hybridization on their physical and
mechanical properties were subsequently identified. Two types of tiller used were coconut
and kenaf fiber which obtained around UiTM Jengka. Two types of filler loading were 30%
and 50% of lignocellulosic fiber (coconut and kenaf fiber). Blending of lignocellulosic fiber
and polypropylene took place in dispersion mixer for 1 hour at 180aC before hot pressed and
cold pressed. Then testing on bending, tensile, water absorption, and thickness swelling were
done. Result shown that there was highly significant effect of filler loadings on all
mechanical properties but not significant on physical properties. For types of filler, highly
significant effect was found on bending MOR, tensile MOR, and thickness swelling whereas
the others are not significant. 50% filler loading shown the highest mechanical and physical
properties compared to 30% while kenaf fiber perform slightly better than coconut fiber.