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Procedia Chemistry 4 (2012) 101 106

Mechanical Properties of Sugar Palm Fibre Reinforced High Impact Polystyrene Composites
S.M. Sapuana,, D. Bachtiara,b
a

Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia b Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Lampung, Jalan Sumantri Brojonegoro 1, Bandar Lampung 35145, Indonesia

Abstract This paper presented a study on tensile properties of sugar palm fibre (SPF) reinforced high impact polystyrene (HIPS) composites. Short SPFs were obtained by finely cutting long fibres with pulverisette tool and they were filtered using a sieve to a size of 30-50 mesh. Five different fibre loadings of 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50% by weight were mixed with HIPS polymer to form composites fabricated using melt mixer and hot press. Tensile tests of the composites were carried out using Instron machine. The results showed that the increase of short SPF loading in HIPS matrix improved tensile strength and modulus of the composites.

2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Keywords: Mechanical properties; sugar palm fibre; polystyrene; tensile properties.

1. Introduction Sugar palm fibre (SPF) is a natural fibre derived from Arenga pinnata trees which were usually grown in Southeast Asia [1]. This plant is getting serious attention in recent years because of its ability in providing good sap for the production of alcohol fuel. There is a great opportunity to develop this plant to produce alcohol fuel in countries like Indonesia and Malaysia because sugar palm trees are available in abundance. The wastes from sugar palm trees are feasible to be used as fibres and fillers in polymeric composites [2]. Some early studies carried out attempted to explore the capability of sugar palm fibre [3-5]. The focuses of these studies were to determine the mechanical and morphological behaviours of the epoxy composites made from sugar palm fibres. Results of the studies showed there was dependence of

Corresponding author. Tel.: +60-3-89466318; fax: +60-3-86567122 E-mail address: sapuan@eng.upm.edu.my

1876-6196 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. doi:10.1016/j.proche.2012.06.015

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mechanical properties on the loading and arrangement of the fibres. Results also showed that a 10 wt% woven roving fibre had the highest values of tensile strength and modulus compared to other arrangements and fibre contents of the sugar palm fibres. The work of Sastra et.al. [4] showed that the reinforcement of an epoxy matrix with sugar palm fibres resulted in a composite with good strength and rigidity. Several other investigations of sugar palm fibre reinforced epoxy composites have been carried out by considering the effect of alkali treatment [6,7], environmental treatment [8], and ageing tests [9]. One product namely a small boat has successfully been developed from sugar palm fibre composites [10]. However, the role of sugar palm fibres as reinforcement in thermoplastic composites has not been studied in the past. This research investigates the tensile strength and modulus of sugar palm fibre reinforced high impact polystyrene composites. High impact polystyrene (HIPS) is a type of polystyrene in which polybutadiene is added during polymerization. Polybutadiene is commonly known as rubber to give toughness and impact resistance of the polymeric materials. 2. Experiment 2.1. Materials Sugar palm fibres (Arenga pinnata) were obtained from Aceh, Indonesia. The fibres were ground and sieved into short size of 30-50 mesh. Six fibre contents of 0, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50% by weight were studied in this study. The high impact polystyrene (HIPS) used as the polymer matrix was Idemitsu PS HT 50 having a density of 1.04 g/cm3 and was supplied by Petrochemical (M) Sdn Bhd, Pasir Gudang, Johor, Malaysia. 2.2. Preparation of composites Compounding of short sugar palm fibre (SPF) and HIPS matrix was carried out using a melt mixer (Brabender Plasticorder intensive mixer model PL2000-6). The mixing temperature and screw speed were set at 165 C and 50 rpm respectively. HIPS was charged into the chamber and melted (3 min) before dried short SPF were added. The mixing process of short SPF and HIPS took place for about 15 min. 2.3. Compression moulding The melt-compounded mixture obtained from the previous process was placed in the compression mould (Carver hot press) heated at a temperature of 165 C and endured the process of preheating for 5 min. Heating was carried out for 5 min followed by cooling for further 5 min. The specimens for the mechanical tests were obtained from these sheets of composites. 2.4. Tensile testing All tensile test specimens were cut into dogbone shape. The tests were conducted following the ASTM D638 type V using Instron universal testing machine (model 5569). A load cell of 1 kN and a crosshead speed of 2 mm/min were used in these tests. For each type of composites, six specimens were tested to failure and were used in calculating the average tensile value.

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2.5. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) Scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipment was then used to assess the surface morphology of fibres and dispersion of fibres in the matrix. The microscopic analysis was important in characterising the level of composites fracture mechanism after subjected to tensile load testing. The interfacial bonding between the fibre and the matrix was also examined by this analysis. The samples were coated with a thin layer of gold using the sputter in order to produce the contrast image on the SEM machine from Hitachi Company Japan S-3400N model, equipped with special software and operated at 5.0 keV. 3. Results and Discussion 3.1. Tensile strength Figure 1 shows the average values of tensile strengths of various short SPF-HIPS composites tested in this study. The mechanical properties of short SPF-reinforced high impact polystyrene composites were studied and in composites there was a complex interplay of the properties of the constituent phases such as matrix, fibre and interfacial region between the fibre and matrix.

Fig. 1. Tensile strength of SPF-HIPS composites for different fibre loadings

The addition of 10 to 30% by weight of short SPF has slightly decreased the tensile strength of short SPF-HIPS composites compared to neat HIPS (0% loading). It can be seen that for the composite with 30% fibre content, the average tensile strength was 19.3 MPa; it is lower by just approximately 35.5% from that of neat HIPS. Similar results have been found by Antich et al. [11] where the addition of short sisal fibres from 5 to 25% by weight in HIPS decreased the tensile strength values. The addition of maximum fibre content of 25% decreased the tensile strength by about 46% compared to that of neat HIPS. They concluded that the decrease of tensile strength values resulted from the weak fibre-matrix interface as a result of differing polarities of the hydrophilic sisal fibres and hydrophobic HIPS matrix. However, in the current study, it is noticed in Figure 1 that the increase in fibre loadings from 40 to 50% has increased the tensile strength of the composites. This may indicate the possibility that the fibres have better dispersion and greater interaction in the HIPS matrix resulting in good bonding between fibre and matrix.

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3.2. Tensile modulus Figure 2 presents the tensile modulus of the short SPF-HIPS composites at different fibre loadings. The significant improvement in the tensile moduli of short SPF-HIPS composites was observed with the increase of fibre contents. It can be seen that the maximum value of tensile modulus was 1706 MPa at fibre content of 30 wt%. But, the addition of 40 to 50% by weight of short SPF has decreased the tensile modulus slightly. Usually, the decrease of tensile moduli was due to the decrease of bond quality between the fibres and matrix. For this case, generally, the decrease in tensile moduli was not very significant, Figure 2, it is still acceptable to claim that the addition of sugar palm fibre up to 50% in HIPS matrix increases the stiffness of the composites. At high fibre contents, it was more difficult to obtain good consolidation of the composites during fabrication process thus reducing the extent of fibre wetting. The quality of interfacial bonding is determined by several factors such as the nature of the fibre and the polymer components, the fibre aspect ratio, fibre contents, the processing procedure and the treatment of the polymer or the fibres [12].

Fig. 2. Tensile modulus of SPF-HIPS composites for different fibre loadings

3.3. Scanning electron microscopy analysis The test specimens were also analysed using a SEM in order to help explain the results of the tensile strength and modulus of short SPF-HIPS composites. SEM examines the tensile fractured surface of SPF-HIPS composites. SEM micrographs of the fracture surfaces of composites at 10 and 20% of SPF are shown in Figures 3a and b, respectively. It can be seen that at lower fibre loadings the fibres dispersed in non-uniform manner. Fibres were disoriented and most of SPF fibres underwent agglomeration. In addition, fibre pull-out mode was also dominant. These entire modes contributed to the weak tensile strength of the composites at lower fibre loadings. Figures 3c and d depicts the fractured surfaces of composites at 30 and 40% of SPF, respectively. The feature of fractured surface at 30% of SPF also shows the fibre breakage and fibre pull-out modes. Then, fractured surface at 40% of SPF shows the compact arrangement of the fibres. Similar situation is also observed in Figure 3e for the fractured surface at 50% of SPF. It explains the reason for the enhancement of strength at higher fibre loadings.

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(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

Fig. 3. The fractured surfaces of SPF/HIPS composites after tensile testing for: (a) 10%; (b) 20%; (c) 30%; (d) 40% and (e) 50% SPF loading

4. Conclusion The aim of this study was to determine the tensile properties of short sugar palm fibre reinforced high impact polystyrene composites. It is concluded that the increase in fibre the loading on HIPS matrix enhanced the tensile modulus of the composites. However, tensile strength decreased with the increase in fibre loading due to poor compatibility of interface between fibre and polymer surfaces. It can be improved with the introduction of surface treatment on the fibres. Acknowledgement The authors wish to thank Universiti Putra Malaysia and Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry, Malaysia for providing research grant ScienceFund project number: 05-01-04-SF1114. Many thanks are also due to the staff of Malaysian Nuclear Agency (MNA), Selangor, Malaysia for their support in carrying out this research. References
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