Coconut coir as a reinforcement in polyester biocomposite

The purpose of this research is to study the mechanical and physical properties of coconut coir reinforced with polyester matrix composite by differencing their percentage of fibre loading and their coir fibre condition. The characterization of mechanical properties for the composition samples was determined by using tensile test machine and bending test machine. Compression moulding was used to produce the composites which consists of seven sample of composites with different fibre loading along with different fibre conditions which are treated coir and untreated coir for fibre loading of 10%, 20% and 30%. Water absorption test such as water uptake and thickness swelling were carried out by immersing the specimens in the water for 24 hours at room condition and the specimens also been put into oven for 24 hours at 1050C to determine their moisture content. The density of composites was also calculated by using density of coir fibre and polyester resins which are 1.20 gcm-3 and 1.09 gcm-3. Overall, the study shows that treated coir fibre composites resulted in higher mechanical properties as increased fibre loading until they reached their maximum point compared to untreated coir fibre composite, this is due to interface bonding , adhesion, voids, arrangement between reinforced fibre an matrix resins. Meanwhile the water absorption and thickness swelling of coir fibre composites increased with higher fibre loading and untreated coir fibre composites shows higher results compared to treated coir fibre composite. This results also same as in moisture content. As more fibre content was added into the composite, more hydrophilic side mode available for water absorption of water which can lead to moisture build-up of water content in the fibre cell that resulting in fibre swelling.