Author(s) :

Engr. A.S. Sadiq.

Volume/Issue :

Abstract :

This work was centred on determining the compressive strength, the elastic modulus, the strength to mass ratio and the energy absorption capacity per unit volume (i.e. resilience) of hand-lay up coconut fibre reinforced polyester composite to ascertain the suitability of the fibre as reinforcement in hand- lay up composite production. To this end, three composite specimens of hand-lay up twenty layers of coconut fibre and , three composite specimens of hand-lay up twenty layers of chopped-strand mat glass fibre reinforced polyester respectively were produced and subjected to compression test using universal material testing machine. An average compressive strength of 14.1MPa and 34.0MPa, elastic modulus of 0.5GPa and 1.16GPa, the strength to mass ratio of 467.3MPa/kg and 871.2MPa/kg and the resilience of 6.0J and 15.0J for the Coconut and chopped-strand mat glass fibres composite specimens respectively were obtained. The analysis of the results indicates that the coconut fibre is suitable for reinforcement in hand-lay up method of composite production for a low level compressive loading.

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