This paper presents a study on the effect of Arenga Pinnata fibre volume fraction on the tensile and compressive properties of Arenga Pinnata fibre reinforced epoxy composite (APREC). The composites were produced using four different Arenga Pinnata fibre volume contents, which were 10vol%, 15vol%, 20vol%, and 25vol%, in unidirectional (UD) fibre alignment. Tensile and compression tests were performed on all APREC specimens in order to investigate the effect of fibre volume fraction on modulus of elasticity, strength and strain to failure. The morphological structure of fractured specimens was observed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in order to evaluate the fracture mechanisms involved when the specimens were subjected to tensile or compressive loading. The results indicated that the higher the amount of Arenga Pinnata fibres, the higher the stiffness of the composites. This is shown by the increment of tensile and compressive modulus of the specimens when the fibre volume content was increased. Tensile modulus increased up to 180% when 25vol% Arenga Pinnata fibre was used in APREC compared to Pure Epoxy specimen. It can also be observed that the tensile strength of the specimens increased 28% from 53.820 MPa (for Pure Epoxy) to 68.692 MPa (for Epoxy with 25vol% APREC addition). Meanwhile, compressive modulus and strength increased up to 3.24% and 9.17%, respectively. These results suggest that the addition of Arenga Pinnata fibres significantly improved the tensile and compressive properties of APREC.
This paper investigates the flexural properties of Arenga Pinnata fibre reinforced epoxy composite
(APREC) in relation to its fibre arrangement. The composites were produced using Arenga Pinnata fibre
as the reinforcement material and epoxy resin as the matrix. In this work, two types of Arenga Pinnata
fibre arrangement were under-studied, randomly distributed and unidirectional distributed (UD). Samples
were prepared at 10vol%, 15vol%, 20vol%, and 25vol% of fibres reinforcement to matrix ratio for both
types. Three-point bending configuration flexural tests were performed for both randomly distributed
APREC and UD APREC at 10vol%, 15vol%, 20vol%, and 25vol% respectively. Results indicated that
UD APREC have better flexure modulus and flexure strength for all the fibre loading percentages (vol%)
as compared against the randomly distributed APREC. The 25vol% UD APREC showed the highest
modulus (3.783 GPa) with an increment of 31.0% as compared against the pure epoxy (2.888 GPa).
It was also observed that there was no significant increment on flexure strength for both random and
unidirectional APREC as compared to pure epoxy (61.125 MPa), but the flexure strength value decreased
for randomly distributed fibre orientation for all fibre volume percentages (vol%)
Post Weld Impact Treatment (PWIT) is necessary in order to improve the tensile shear and hardness strengths on the welded joints of spot welding process. PWIT can be performed via Low Blow Impact Treatment (LBIT), which is the main focus in this research. In this present study, two plates of low carbon steel (LCS) with dimensions of 110 mm × 45 mm × 1.2 mm underwent a resistance spot welding. All welded samples were later tested for their mechanical properties by performing the tensile-shear, hardness test and qualitative analysis. Tensile shear test was conducted on the spot welded area for both treated and untreated samples using crosshead speed of 2 mm/min, while hardness test was performed using 1 kgf load Vickers hardness indenter. The effects of LBIT on tensile-shear properties, hardness and fatigue strength were evaluated and it was found that the implementation of LBIT increased the tensile shear strength, fatigue strength and hardness on the welded joint significantly.
In the electrodeposition system, adding saccharin alters the properties of the metal deposits by changing the electrode kinetics of the deposited surface. In this study, nanocrystalline cobalt-iron (CoFe) coating was synthesised using the electrodeposition technique with different saccharin concentrations. The results obtained showed that the coating thickness increased while the grain size decreased from 51 nm to 40 nm when the saccharin concentration increased from 0 to 2 g/L. The nanocrystalline CoFe coating produced with 2 g/L of saccharin concentration resulted in the smallest particle size of 71.22 nm and the highest microhardness of 251.86 HV. From the salt spray test (24 and 48 hours) it was found that the use of saccharin at higher concentration of 2 g/L improves the corrosion resistance of the nanocrystalline CoFe coating significantly due to the change of surface morphology as well as the decrease in grain size.
Kenaf fibre is one of the natural fibers that has received much attention of many researchers because of its good properties and flexible use. Kenaf fibre composites have been proposed as interior building materials. In this study, the recycling effect on the kenaf PVC wall panel is focused. The main objective of this study is to determine the mechanical properties of different types of kenaf PVC wall panels. The samples were formulated based on the first and third recycling process. The specimens were subjected to several types of tests, namely, tensile, izod impact, flexural and hardness based on ASTM D3039, ASTM D256, ASTM D7264 and ASTM D785, respectively. The results indicate that the mechanical properties of the third recycled kenaf PVC wall panel product is better than the virgin and first recycled specimen. This shows that the recycling process enhances the mechanical properties of the product. On the other hand, the hardness of the specimen decreases after first recycling due to the reheating effect.