Mechanical and acoustic properties of non-woven natural fibre/polypropylene sandwich composites
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Date
2019-07
Authors
Chai Junyi
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Abstract
The present work studies the development of sandwich panel composite comprised of non-woven kenaf fibre/hemp fibre/polypropylene mat (NWM) as the skin layer whereas the rice husk/PP sheet (RHPP) as the core layer through compression moulding. This research studied the effect of NWM content and on the mechanical and acoustic properties of the sandwich panel composites. The cross section of the composites was observed under confocal laser microscope to obtain the skin-to-core ratio (2S/C) and the total content of NWM in the composites. Sandwich panel composite with the higher NWM content resulted in better enhancement of flexural and fracture toughness properties. Composite with higher NWM content was found to has higher water uptake ability. This was attributed to the hollow lumen structure of the fibres and the high cellulose content as high as 50 weight percent in total. High water uptake induced the dramatic reduction in flexural properties of all composites in wet state condition. All composites experienced dropped in both flexural strength and modulus, so as fracture toughness upon water immersion. Sound absorption ability of the developed sandwich panel composites were considerably good at low frequency range from 0Hz to 1500Hz. The higher percentage of NWM resulted in composite with lower sound absorption ability. Scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) on fractured surfaces of the sandwich panel composite showed the poor wetting of fibre-matrix as bundles of fibre pull-outs were observed at skin layer and pores were visible at core layer due to fibre debonding during stress.