Natural fiber composites have been widely used for various applications such as automotive components, aircraft components and sports equipment. Among the natural fibers Typha spp have gained considerable attention to replace synthetic fibers due to their unique nature. The untreated and alkali-treated fibers treated in different durations were dried under the sun for 4 h prior to the fabrication of Typha fiber reinforced epoxy composites. The chemical structure and crystallinity index of composites were examined via FT-IR and XRD respectively. The tensile, flexural and impact tests were conducted to investigate the effect of the alkali treated Typha fibers on the epoxy composite. From the microscopy analysis, it was observed that the fracture mechanism of the composite was due to the fiber and matrix debonding, fiber pull out from the matrix, and fiber damage. The tensile, flexural and impact strength of the Typha fiber reinforced epoxy composite were increased after 5% alkaline immersion compared to untreated Typha fiber composite. From these results, it can be concluded that the alkali treatment on Typha fiber could improve the interfacial compatibility between epoxy resin and Typha fiber, which resulted in the better mechanical properties and made the composite more hydrophobic. So far there is no comprehensive report about Typha fiber reinforcing epoxy composite, investigating the effect of the alkali treatment duration on the interfacial compatibility, and their effect on chemical and mechanical of Typha fiber reinforced composite, which plays a vital role to provide the overall mechanical performance to the composite.

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Aceh province located at the northwestern tip of Sumatra Island in Indonesia has a coastal environment and a coastline of around 1660 km. Banda Aceh, Aceh Besar, and Aceh Barat are among the districts of Aceh Province located on those coastlines. The earthquake and tsunami that struck Aceh in December 2004 caused much of these districts to be submerged by seawater. Thus, the environment of these areas might become more corrosive. This study investigates atmospheric corrosion of structural steels exposed to the environment by the 2004 tsunami. Some typical structural steels, which have five different shapes, were selected for the test.

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