Recommendation CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 5.1

VIII 4.1.3 Hardness test 58

4.2 Morphology analysis

61

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 5.1

Conclusion 76

5.2 Recommendation

77 REFERENCES 78 APPENDICES A 80 IX LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1 Specimens variation and coding indicator 4 Table 2.1 Advance composites system other than fiber glass 18 Table 2.2 Typical properties of cast thermoset polyester resin at 23°C 25 Table 2.3 Kenaf chemical characteristics 31 Table 2.4 Kenaf physical characteristics 31 Table 3.1 List of raw materials 35 Table 3.2 Specimens variation and coding indicator 38 Table 4.1 Specimens variation and coding indicator 46 Table 4.2 Recorded data from tensile test 49 Table 4.3 Recorded data from impact test 56 Table 4.4 Recorded data fro hardness test 59 X LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1 Degree of crystalline structure of polymers 13 Figure 2.2 Three common fiber configurations for composite reinforcement 17 Figure 2.3 Laminar composites, consist layer of lamina 19 Figure 2.4 Schematic diagrams showing the construction of honeycomb core sandwich panel 19 Figure 2.5 Polyester molecular structure 21 Figure 2.6 Picture above shows the examples of fully grown kenaf plant 27 Figure 3.1 Flow chart for whole project 34 Figure 3.2 Bast kenaf 36 Figure 3.3 Dimension of the mold 36 Figure 3.4 Picture of cured specimen 38 Figure 3.5 Dimension of tensile test specimen 39 Figure 3.6 Dimension of impact test specimen 41 Figure 3.7 Charpy and izod impact test’s specimen arrangement 42 Figure 3.8 Dimension of hardness test specimen 43 Figure 3.9 Image of fractured surface of impact test specimen 45 Figure 3.10 Example of image taken using the SEM 45 Figure 4.1 Tensile strength for polyesterkenaf composite at various curing time and temperature 48 Figure 4.2 Micrograph of heat cured specimen at 50°C for 30 minutes 50 Figure 4.3 Example of specimen after going through tensile test 51 Figure 4.4 Specimen fractured surface after under going tensile test 51 Figure 4.5 Picture of specimen cured at 100ºC suffered internal cracks 53 Figure 4.6 Example of specimen after going through impact test 54 Figure 4.7 Image of fractured surface of impact test specimen 55 XI Figure 4.8 Impact test for polyesterkenaf composite at various curing time and temperature 55 Figure 4.9 Hardness test for polyesterkenaf composite at various curing time and temperature 58 Figure 4.10 Graph showing the effect of specimen’s microstructure to the maximum stress of a specimen cure at 50ºC 63 Figure 4.11 Graph showing the effect of specimen’s microstructure to the maximum stress of a specimen cure at 70ºC 65 Figure 4.12 Graph showing the effect of specimen’s microstructure to the maximum stress of a specimen cure at 100ºC 67 Figure 4.13 Micrograph of the bast kenaf 69 Figure 4.14 Micrograph of the reference specimen 69 Figure 4.15 Micrograph of the heat cured specimen at 50ºC for 30 minutes 70 Figure 4.16 Micrograph of the heat cured specimen at 70ºC for 30 minutes 70 Figure 4.17 Micrograph of the heat cured specimen at 100ºC for 30 minutes 71 Figure 4.18 Micrograph of the heat cured specimen at 50ºC for 60 minutes 72 Figure 4.19 Micrograph of the heat cured specimen at 70ºC for 60 minutes 72 Figure 4.20 Micrograph of the heat cured specimen at 100ºC for 60 minutes 73 Figure 4.21 Micrograph of the heat cured specimen at 50ºC for 90 minutes 74 Figure 4.22 Micrograph of the heat cured specimen at 70ºC for 90 minutes 74 Figure 4.23 Micrograph of the heat cured specimen at 100ºC for 90 minutes 75 XII LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ASTM - American Standard Test Method SEM - Scanning Electron Microscope UTM - Universal Testing Machine UPR - Unsaturated Polyester Resins PC - Polycarbonate PET - Polyethylene terephthate PMMA - Polymethyl methacrylate PMCs - Polymer-matrix composites MMCs - Metal-matrix composites CMCs - Ceramic-matrix composites T g - Glass transition temperature T m - Crystalline melting point 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Problem Statement and Background