Curing characteristics and mechanical properties of short oil

1. Curing characteristics and mechanical
properties of short palm oil fiber
reinforced rubber composites
J.T.HIKMATH
POLYMER PROCESSINGTECGNOLOGY
University of srijayewardenepura

2. Natural fibers
• Natural fibers in simple definition are fibers that are not synthetic or manmade.
They can be sourced from plants or animals.
• Natural fiber refers to the edible parts of plants or carbohydrates that cannot be
digested.
• Natural fiber especially cellulosic types is in all plant foods, including fruits,
vegetables, grains, nuts, seeds, and legumes.

3. Some kind of natural fibers which are commonly using
As reinforcements.
Structural arrangement of a natural fiber.

4. What is oil palm fiber?
• Palm fiber is produced from oil palm's vascular bundles in the Empty Fruit Bunch
(EFB).
• EFB is considered as waste products after the Fresh Fruit Bunch (FFB) have been
processed.
Fresh fruit bunch Empty fruit bunch

5. Oil palm empty fruit bunches (OPEFBs)
• The use of natural fiber for the reinforcement of the
composites has received increasing attention both by
the academic and industrial sector
• Natural fibers have many significant advantages over
synthetic fibers

6. The processing of make fibers from Oil palm
empty fruit bunches

7. Benefits of using palm oil fibers as a
reinforcement…
• Natural fibers are now getting attention from researchers and academician to utilize
in polymer composites due to their ecofriendly nature and sustainability…
• Palm fiber itself is 100% natural
• non-hazardous
• biodegradable and environmentally friendly.
• Low cost
• Light weight material
• Local availability
• less damage to processing equipment
• And very important is natural fibers are renewable resources
• This is the reasons why natural fibers are used as a reinforcements in composites.

8. Table 1: Chemical composition of some common natural fibers
Almost 94% of cellulose and
hemicellulose
• The beta linkages in cellulose give
each polymer a flat and rigid
structure.
• This is how cellulose forms fibrils
in the cell walls of plants. This
is very strong and durable.

9. ASL: acid soluble lignin,AIL: acid insoluble lignin.
Profile of components of oil palm empty fruit bunches
(OPEFB) after pretreatment.

10. FTIR spectra of oil palm empty fruit bunches (OEPFB) in
the wavenumber ranges of 2800 cm-1,800 cm−1
Line assignment: untreated (red line), fungal pretreatment (green line), phosphoric
acid pretreatment (light blue line), fungal followed by phosphoric acid pretreatment
(light brown line).

12. • Caption Scanning electron
micrograph (SEM) of surface with
cellulose fibers.
• They are the main component of cell
walls in most plants, and they give
wood its strength and resilience.
Cellulose consists of chains of linked
sugar molecules.
• Because of their strength, durability and ability to absorb and transport water
cellulose fibers are being used in a variety of products. Such as textiles, paper etc.
• Natural rubber is reinforced with untreated oil palm fibers chopped to different
fiber lengths.
The effects of concentration and modification of fiber surface in oil palm hybrid
fiber reinforced rubber composites have been researched.

13. What is composites ?
• There are two main categories of composite materials: matrix (binder)
and reinforcement. A composite is a material made from two or more different
materials that, when combined, are stronger than those individual materials by
themselves. Simply put, composites are a combination of components.
• Matrix material:-
• surrounds and supports the reinforcement materials by maintaining their
relative positions. In this case our matrix material are rubbers
• Reinforcements:-
• impart their special mechanical and physical properties to enhance the matrix
properties
• mechanically well attached to the matrix they can greatly improve the
composite's overall properties. Here we using short oil palm fiber.

14. Composites materials
Short oil palm fiber Rubber short oil palm fiber reinforced rubber

15. short oil palm fiber reinforced rubber
composites
• The increase in environmental consciousness and community interest, the new
environmental regulations and unsustainable consumption of petroleum, led to
thinking of the use of environmentally friendly materials.
• So Natural fiber is considered one of the environmentally friendly materials
which have good properties compared to synthetic fiber.

16. General Characteristics of short oil palm fiber reinforced
rubber composites
• The performance of short oil palm fiber reinforced rubber composites relies on
some factors, like mechanical composition, microfibrillar angle, structure, defects,
cell dimensions, physical properties, chemical properties, and also the interaction
of a fiber with the matrix.
• Since every product in market has drawbacks, similarly, short oil palm fiber
reinforced rubber composites also have drawbacks.
• The couplings between rubber and palm fiber are problems taken into
consideration, as a result of the difference in chemical structure between these
two phases.

17. General Characteristics continuous..
• This leads to ineffective stress transfer during the interface of the palm fiber
reinforced rubber composites. so, the chemical treatments for the palm fiber
are necessary to achieve good interface properties.
• The rubber/fiber interface was improved by the addition of a resorcinol-
hexamethylene tetraamine bonding system.

18. Mechanical Properties of the short oil palm
fiber reinforced rubber composites
• There are aspects that effects of composite are performance level or activities
are...
• orientation of fiber
• strength of fibers
• physical properties of fibers
• interfacial adhesion property of fibers
Characteristic components of natural fibers such as orientation, moisture
absorption, impurities , physical properties , and volume fraction are such
features that play a constitutive role in the determination of palm fiber
reinforced rubber composites mechanical properties.

19. Influence orientation of fiber

20. Stiffness and stress transfer
• Stiffness and stress transfer in composites increases with an increased or
excessive addition of fiber which provides a better loss modulus and also a
better storage modulus.
• The loss modulus is also considered to be increased with fiber addition up
to 756 MPa at 50 phr fiber loading compared to the loss modulus of gum
that is 415 Mpa

21. Tensile strength and modulus strength
• Tensile Properties Tensile strength of a composite is generally dependent on
factors such as filler content, degree of adhesion between filler and matrix, and
the dispersion between filler and matrix.
• The tensile strengths of the composites slightly decreased with increasing filler
loading from 10% to 50%, due to the poor interfacial bonding and the presence of
agglomerate fillers.

22. • However, for composites with 10% of filler, smaller size of filler gives a higher
result.
• Because Samples with smaller filler size (higher surface area) give better
adhesion with matrix, which may be attributed to a better distribution of fiber in
rubber, thus allowing a more efficient transfer of stress along the fiber/rubber
interface.
Figure shows depicts the effect of the percentage of filler and filler size on the tensile
strength of the composite

23. • Fillers with high stiffness may increase the modulus of the composites.
• Figure indicates the increasement in tensile modulus with fiber loading that rubber
achieved stiffness by fiber.
• Increased modulus with fiber length is easily understood because longer fibers are carrying
more tensile loads as a result of increased transfer length.

24. Elongation at break
• Elongation at break indicates the stretchability of short oil palm fiber
reinforced rubber composites
• The percentage of elongation at break of rubber decreases with the increase
of palm fiber contents, because its indicating that the composites became
more harder.

25. • The percentage of elongation at break decreases with the increase of fiber
contents in rubber composites.
• This indicating that the composites became more harder when addition of
short fibers.
Figure shows the effect of filler content on the elongation at break for short oil palm fiber
reinforced rubber composites.

26. The flexural strength and flexural modulus
• The flexural strength of composites increases as the amount of fiber is
increased.
• This is due to the ability of fiber to absorb stress transfer and to the
compatibility between the fiber and the rubber.
• The presence of short fibers as the filler in the composites also increases the
flexural modulus of the composites.

27. Effect of fiber loading with fiber sizes of 315 and 200 µm on flexural strength of short oil palm fiber
reinforced rubber composites.
• The flexural strength of composites increases when the amount of fiber is
increased. this is due to the ability of fiber to absorb stress transfer and to the
compatibility between the fiber and the rubber

28. • The presence of short fibers as the filler in the composites also increases the
flexural modulus of the composites.
Effect of fiber loading with fiber sizes of 315 and 200 µm on flexural modulus of short oil
palm fiber reinforced rubber composites.

29. Curing characteristics of short palm oil fiber
reinforced rubber composites
• The presence of bonding agents in composites have increased the curing
time.
• However, scorch and curing time were found to be independent of fiber
loading.

30. • The scorch time and cure time of short palm oil fiber filled rubber vulcanizates
decreased with increase in filler loading.

31. Conclusion
• Mechanical properties of oil palm fiber reinforced natural rubber composites are
enhanced with modification on fiber surface and use of various bonding agents.
• The presence of bonding agents in composites prolonged the curing time.
However, the scorch and curing time are found to be independent of fiber
loading.
• Maximum and minimum torque values increase with the presence of various
bonding agents and increasing fiber loading.

32. Thank you