Effect of different fiber loadings and sizes on pultruded kenaf fiber reinforced unsaturated polyester composites

Application of the available natural resources became crucial for developing sustainability recently. The use of natural fiber as reinforced materials in polymer composite materials is gaining new interest from within industry. In this research, the effect of different fiber loadings and different types of kenaf yarns, used on the properties of Pultruded Kenaf Fiber Reinforced Composites (PKFRC), was studied. The pultruded composite samples were prepared with different fiber loadings and sizes (tex) of kenaf fiber. Three different fiber loadings, i.e., 60, 65, and 70% were used during the preparation of the PKFRC samples. Flexural and compression testing was performed, to study the effect of different fiber loadings and different kenaf fiber yarns, on the mechanical properties of kenaf fiber pultruded composites. The results show that the highest fiber loading of 70% gave more desirable flexural and compression properties to the PKFRC. The use of twist kenaf yarn fiber showed lower mechanical properties of PKFRC as compared to the single kenaf yarn. Damage configurations and accumulations for each loading case were examined. A morphological study, using optical microscopy (OM) revealed the type of fracture that occurred in the pultruded samples after mechanical testing. POLYM. COMPOS., 36:1224–1229, 2015. © 2014 Society of Plastics Engineers