Investigation of Flexural and Microstructural Properties of Coir Fibre and Wood Dust Reinforced Polyester Composite

Abstract

Natural fibre is gradually replacing synthetic fibres for composite production because of their numerous advantages. This leads to the use of coir fibre and wood dust as reinforcement for the production of composite in this research. In this study, an investigation of the effect of the wood dust filler loading on the flexural properties and morphology of the coir fibre reinforced polyester composites was carried out. The flexural strength of the composite materials was determined in accordance with ASTM D790M standard using an INSTRON testing machine while Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) was also used to observe the morphology.  The flexural properties increased with increased filler loadings for up to 31.32 MPa at 7 wt%, above which it 81better compaction between the matrix and the reinforcement materials. From these results, it can be concluded that optimum composition of coir fibre and wood dust filler can be used to develop fibre-reinforced composites with relatively better mechanical properties that are comparable to synthetic composite. Thus, natural fibres can serve as alternative reinforcement materials for the production of composite.