The Properties of Coconut Coir Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Composites

Abstract

Natural fibers are not only strong and lightweight but also relatively very cheap, low in density, recyclable and biodegradable. Low density values allow composites production that combine good mechanical properties with low specific mass. In Malaysia, fibrous plants are available in abundance such as coconut coir. In this research, an investigation has been carried out to study the properties of coconut coir fiber reinforced epoxy composites. Samples were prepared at different filler loading, 0%, 5% and 15%. Investigation were carried out using water absorption and tensile test. From the results, it was found that drastic increment of water absorption occurred for the first 5 days for all samples. EPO15 showed the highest increment followed by EPO5 and EPO0 at 5.87 %, 2.86 % and 1.71 % respectively. The young modulus for the prepared samples were 30.95 MPa, 1706.22 MPa and 73.55 MPa for EPO0, EPO5 and EPO15 respectively. This showed that that coconut coir/epoxy composites exhibit moderate to low physical and mechanical properties at low fiber loading.