Flammability, Tensile, and Morphological Properties of Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunches Fiber/Pet Yarn-Reinforced Epoxy Fire Retardant Hybrid Polymer Composites

Abstract

Oil palm empty fruit bunches (OPEFB) fiber is a natural fiber that possesses many advantages, such as biodegradability, eco-friendly, and renewable nature. The effect of the OPEFB fiber loading reinforced fire retardant epoxy composites on flammability and tensile properties of the polymer biocomposites were investigated. The tests were carried out with four parameters, which were specimen A (constant), specimen B (20% of fiber), specimen C (35% of fiber), and specimen D (50% of fiber). The PET yarn and magnesium hydroxide were used as the reinforcement material and fire retardant agent, respectively. The results were obtained from several tests, which were the horizontal burning test, tensile test, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The result for the burning test showed that specimen B exhibited better flammability properties, which had the lowest average burning rate (11.47 mm/min). From the tensile strength, specimen A revealed the highest value of 10.79 N/mm2. For the SEM morphological test, increasing defects on the surface ruptured were observed that resulted in decreased tensile properties of the composites. It can be summarized that the flammability and tensile properties of OPEFB fiber reinforced fire retardant epoxy composites were reduced when the fiber volume contents were increased at the optimal loading of 20%, with the values of 11.47 mm/min and 4.29 KPa, respectively.

Polylactic Acid (PLA) Biocomposite: Processing, Additive Manufacturing and Advanced Applications

“…The polymer is obtained from the fermentation of corn, potato, sugar, beet, and other agricultural sources. Despite their biodegradability properties, natural fibres exhibit several main drawbacks that hinder their developments, including differences in consistency, sensitivity to moisture intake due to their hydrophilic nature, and low thermal stability [18][19][20][21].…”

Polymer Composites Filled with Metal Derivatives: A Review of Flame Retardants

“…The carbonized yield of ER-PMAIL6 was improved by nearly 160% from 9% to 25% compared with ER for the CONE test, indicating strong mechanical properties and intumescent carbonized layer for superior flame retardance. Suriani et al [ 3 ] investigated the horizontal burning rate by using Mg(OH) 2 to determine its capability as FR composite. Different percentages of oil palm empty fruit bunch fiber (OPEFB) were added, with PET yarn and Mg(OH) 2 as controls.…”

“…Polymer composites are globally recognized due to their thermal insulation properties. To improve their thermal and heat resistant performance further, certain metallic materials are added to polymers, such as copper [ 1 ], nickel [ 2 ], magnesium [ 3 , 4 , 5 ], and zinc [ 6 ]. The inclusion of metal component in polymer-based composites has produced new promising materials with high potential in various engineering sectors.…”

“…Numerous incidents have occurred previously in aircraft; at present, however, a remarkable increase in the fire tolerance of polymer composite materials can be observed during collisions [ 27 ]. To increase environmental sustainability, engineers and scientists are currently seeking to replace nonbiodegradable fibers (e.g., glass and carbon–aramids) with biodegradable fibers (e.g., corn [ 28 ],water hyacinth [ 29 ], coir [ 30 ], ginger [ 31 , 32 ], cotton [ 33 , 34 ], kenaf [ 11 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 ], sugarcane [ 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 ], flax [ 44 ], ramie [ 45 ], hemp [ 46 ], kapok [ 47 ], sisal [ 48 ], wood [ 17 ], oil palm [ 3 , 49 ], banana [ 50 ], and sugar palm [ 4 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 ]. However, polymer composites reinforced with natural fibers frequently heat up efficiently [ 61 ] and exhibit high thermal conductivity [ 62 ].…”

Kenaf Fiber/Pet Yarn Reinforced Epoxy Hybrid Polymer Composites: Morphological, Tensile, and Flammability Properties

“…The use of a composite material whose constituents will synergize to solve the needs of the application is therefore necessary. Many researchers in the past have developed composites using natural fibers, such as sugar palm [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 ], oil palm [ 16 ], sugarcane [ 17 , 18 , 19 ], water hyacinth [ 20 ], kenaf [ 21 , 22 , 23 ], corn husk [ 24 ], bamboo [ 25 ], coir [ 26 ], sisal [ 27 ], cogon [ 28 ], and banana [ 29 , 30 ]. These natural fibers possess good reinforcing capability when properly combined with polymers [ 31 ].…”