Experimental Study of the Mechanical Properties of Kenaf Fibers Epoxy Biocomposites with various Fiber

Abstract

This article aims at investigating the mechanical properties of kenaffibres epoxy biocomposites with various fibre volume contents. Ukam plant (kenaf) fibres are natural fibers which have many advantages capable of making them suitable reinforcement for composite development. In this article, density tests were carried out on kenaf fibers and epoxy resin while tensile tests were carried out on kenaf fiber polymer composites. Six samples ranging from 0% to 50% fiber volume fractions were studied. From the results, the liquid density of epoxy resin is 1.10g/cm³ and cured density of epoxy resin is 1.03g/cm². The ultimate strength obtained from the stress against strain graphs were between 14.00MPa and 88.8MPa while the highest value of Young's Modulus at 50% fiber volume fraction is 10.67GPa. This shows that mechanical properties of fibre reinforced composites increase with increase in fibre volume fractions.