of thesis presented to the Senate of Universiti Putra Malaysia in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science FATIGUE BEHAVIOUR OF OIL PALM FRUIT BUNCH FIBRE/EPOXY AND CARBON FIBRE/EPOXY COMPOSITES By ANIZAH KALAM Apl"i12003Chairman: Professor Ir. Dr. Barkawi Bin Sahad Faculty : EngineeringTensile test on unidirectional Oil Palm Fruit Bunch (OPFB) fibre/epoxy composite and unidirectional Carbon Fibre (C F)/epoxy composite were conducted to determine their ultimate tensile stress, the Young's modulus and elongation at fracture Two different fibre volume fractions of 35'1"0 and 55% were studied in OPFB fibre/epoxy composite. The fibre volume fraction of CF/epoxy composite studied was 42%.The ultimate tensile stress determined from the tensile tests were then used to determine the maximum stress levels, Smax of fatigue tests for CF and OPFB fibre/epoxy composites.Two parameters were studied in fatigue test, which were stress ratio, R (0.1 and 0.5) and fibre volume fraction, Vr (3 5% and 55%). All Fatigue tests were performed at constant stress amplitude, at an air-conditioned room temperature of 20°C and at a frequency of 20 Hz. Observation on fractured surface of tensile and fatigue tested specimens were also done. 11The ultimate tensile stress of CF/epoxy composite is 247.0 MPa. OPFB fibre/epoxy composite with fibre volume fraction of 35% and 55% have ultimate tensile stress of 47.8 MPa and 46.1 Mpa, respectively.The observation on fractured surface of tensile tested specimens showed that CF and OPFB fibre/epoxy composites failed in a brittle manner. Fatigue behaviour of CF/epoxy composite shows a reduction in fatigue resistance with decreasing stress ratio. Three specimens survived 1 million cycles, which were cycled at stress ratio of 0.1 and ma;ximum stress leveL Smax of 0.65. There was no indication of fatigue limit shown by S-N curves for OPFB fibre/epoxy composite for both fibre volume fractions. However the S-N curves of OPFB fibre/epoxy composite showed a decrease of fatigue resistance with the increase offibre volume fraction from 35% to 55%.Two types of fractured surface were observed on the CF/epoxy composite failed in fatigue test, which were brittle and delamination. Meanwhile the fractured surface of OPFB fibre/epoxy composite showed brittle, delamination and fibre pull-out. I would also like to thank Tuan Haji Saharani fo r his technical expertise, guidance and assistance in using the Instron machine to perform the tests fo r this study. And also my appreciation to Wildan fo r his assistance during the test was carried out and to Ahmad Saifudin fo r his help and willingness to give some ideas in preparing the specimen's mould.Many thanks are also extended to all the friends in Universiti Teknologi MARA and Universiti Putra Malaysia who contributed in giving ideas, suggestions and comments to this proj ect.Finally, and most importantly, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my husband, my sons and my daughter fo r their patience, love and full support, ...

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