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Abstract. The automotive industry is currently shifting to a 'green' outlook since that the popularity of natural fibers in composites plastics is accelerating in many areas and particularly the automotive industry. Nowadays, consumers are looking for vehicles more environmentally friendly and lighter in weight. For this reason, the engineers are now focusing to substitute the metal parts on utilizing the natural fiber composites. Selecting the right material in product development is a crucial decision. Imprecise decision can cause the product to be remanufactured and not in optimized condition. One of the methods that can be employed is Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). This paper illustrates the implementation of AHP method in order to select the most appropriate thermoset matrix for natural fiber composites automotive armrest. The selection is based on the weight reduction as the major aim of the study.

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Ceramic foams, a porous material with a gyroid structures, are becoming highly demanded for various applications such as heat insulation, bone implantation and filtration, because of their unique properties such as high specific surface area, high porosity and low heat transfer rate. In this study, the development of ceramic foam utilised white clay with a combination of precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC). The ceramic foam was successfully developed using this combination after the sample was sintered at 1250 °C for 2 hours holding time. The various compositions of PCC (10.0, 12.5, 15.0, 17.5, 20.0, 22.5 and 25.0 wt.%) affected the chemical composition and compressive strength of the ceramic foam. The chemical composition of ceramic foam was analysed by using X -ray fluorescence (XRF) and the result indicated that the PCC was successfully transformed into calcium oxide (CaO) after the sintering process. The mineralogical composition of the ceramic foam was evaluated using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and has shown the presence of mullite (3Al2O3.2SiO2), gehlenite (Ca2Al2SiO7) and anorthite (2CaAl2Si2O8) after the sintering process. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis showed that the presence of porosity on the strut of the ceramic foam. Meanwhile, the compressive strength of the ceramic foam increased from 0.03 to 1.31 MPa, which is directly proportional to the increased amount of PCC.