Group’s members:

Farhatun Najat Bt Maluin (SEZ090048)

Fatem Hamime Bt Ismail (SEZ090007)
Siti Artikah Bt Mahmud Safbri (SEZ090034)
Nur Feeza Ashiqin Harun (SEW090023)
Siti Noornabila Suhada Abdillah (SEW090030)
• Composites = combinations of two or more materials.
- which is reinforcing phase (fibre) and matrix phase

Fibre reinforced polymer

Matrix phase – polymer

Fibre as reinforcing phase
- act as a binder and a
- to enhance the strength and
medium to tranfer stresses
elasticity of plastic.
between reinforcing fibers.
 Types of polymer matrices

Thermoset
- Above its melt point, the plastic liquefies
(softens enough to be processed).
This process can be repeated, with the plastic
melting and solidifying as the temperature climbs
above and drops below the melt temperature
respectively
Thermoplastic
- materials that undergo a chemical reaction
(curing) and transform from a liquid to a solid.
- The cross link between their uncured form (in
monomer form) and the catalyst that initiate
the chemical reaction is irreversible.
- The exposure to high heat will cause the
material to degrade, not melt.

The advantage of thermoplastics over thermosets are thermoplastics has higher

elongation at break. Thus, it is necessary in order to improve impact strength.
 renewable source, requires
little energy during
Producible with low
production and use carbon
investment at low cost
dioxide while oxygen is given
back to the environment.

Advantages of natural
fibre composites

They are environmentally

friendly materials at the
Good thermal and acoustic
stage of
insulating properties
production, processing and
waste.
Classification of natural fibers
 one of the type of natural fiber that consist of cellulose, hemi-
cellulose, lignin, pectin.

Properties of the plant fibers.

• The fibers are normally a rigid, crystalline cellulose micro fibril-reinforced
amorphous lignin and with hemicellulosic matrix.
• Mechanical structural of plant fibers is much lower when compared to reinforcing
glass fiber.
• Somehow, because of the low density, their properties for such the strength and
the stiffness of the plant fibers are comparable to the values of glass fibres.

(the detail will be disscussed further in the part 2)

 - Generally compromise of proteins

Animal Hair
- wool, human
Classification of hair, feather
animal fibre
Silk fibre
 Example - Wool
Properties of wool

• low tenacity because it has excellent elongation and elastic recovery

• durable with moderate resistance and it is also poor conductor of heat
• very sensitive to some alkalis
• give influence on the tensile stress or modulus of elasticity with increasing fraction
of wool content
• when arranged in a transverse position to the tensile load, the tensile stress was
increased
• may be able to provide reinforcement in multi-axial situations.

Properties of wool fibre composite

• Effect of orientation of fibre

- transverse position increase the tensile stress and toughness.
- The modulus of elasticity does not effected fibre samples.
 Processing and extraction of wool
fibre

Shearing SORTING CLEANING CARDING SPINNING WEAVING FINISHING

• As a composite, wool fibres have been combined with polyester fibres and spun
into multistrand yarn as threads
• Traditionally, wool fibres have been spun into multilayer fibres in the form of
threads, then knitted into cloth and utilized for the manufacture of garments
• The composite matrix was prepared from polyester resin with 1% hardener
(methyl ethyl ketone peroxide).
• Samples of composite sheets were prepared in the laboratory from skeins of wool
laid alternatively with layers of resin mixture, and placed in a rectangular mould.
 Application of wool fiber
• used as alternatives for producing composite materials which may
have great scope in value added application including bio-
engineering and medical applications
• In the textile industries, a lot of waste wool fibers and their
products induce actions which lead to the regeneration of wool
keratin materials
• Animal fiber reinforced composite - applications in the
automotive, aerospace and sports equipment industries
• Advantage of animal fiber composite materials is that they can be
tailored to meet the specific structure such as face brush
makeup, blanket etc.
• the only naturally occurring of mineral fibre – asbestos
• Asbestos fibres are silicate compound which contain
silicon and oxygen in their molecular structure.
• The crystal in these fibres forms a long, thin and
flexible fibre when separated.

This is a piece of asbestos Asbestos fibers as seen

rock. Can you see the through a microscope
fibers?
 Properties of asbestos fibre
• Resistance to fire or inflammable
• Poor thermal and heat conductor
• High tensile strength and flexible
• Insoluble in water
• their colours depend on the types and the composition of the asbestos which is
depends on the amount of iron.

Properties of asbestos fibre composite

• The mechanical properties depends on;

i) The orientation of the fibre
In axial orientation, the composite shows the higher tensile strength while in radial
orientation, the composite shows the higher compressive strength
(Lee & Kim, 2004).
ii) The percentage of fibre mass fraction
The increase in the volume of fibre, increase the impact resistance of the polymer
(Akens & Garret, 1986)
Processing and extraction of asbestos fibre

1st step - Mining process – open-pit mining

extracts the rock or minerals from the earth by remove it from an open pit or borrow.

2nd step - Milling process

- extraction of the fibre from the ore
- separation and degradation of fibre according to its lenght

Dry milling
Wet milling
the fibre extraction were done by crushing
the asbestos is dispersed through the water
the ore using different series of crushing
and not being dried until the separation
machine and pass to vacuum aspiration on a
process of fibre was completed
vibrating screen
 Processing of asbestos fibre
composite.
Most widely method - Hatschek process (or wet process)
- This process produce the fibre cement sheets by stacking together the thin
lamina which is made from a suspension (slurry) of cement, fibre, limestone
filler and water

Schematic diagram of a typical Hatschek process, where are slurry

(1),Cement (2), asbestos (3), limestone filler (4) ,water (5) , vats
(6), sieve cylinders (7), running felt (8), Vacuum (9), formation cylinder
(10), Green lamina produced (F) cutting of the green lamina
(11), moulding (12) , finish product (P)
 Application of asbestos fibre
• Used in making fireproof materials and also insulation products
(thermal and electrical)
• Widely used for the fabrication of papers and felts for flooring and
roofing products.
• Develop products for the automotive, electronic, and printing
industries.

insulating pipe
Insulating board

roofing
 Problems of asbestos fibre
• Unfortunately, asbestos can cause health effects when
the fibres are breath into the lungs or being swallowed
into the body and eventually accumulate in the bodies
and lodged in tissues.
• This can lead to the lung cancer, mesothelioma (a
cancer of the linings around the lungs and
abdomen), asbestosis (scarring of lung tissue that
impairs in breathing) and eventually can lead to the
death.
• But the low levels exposure of asbestos can’t be
harmful to human body.
• Thus, precaution steps must be taken when handling
this fibre.
 Some of the precaution steps.
• Wear coveralls and an approved respirator
• Do not use abrasive cutters and sanders on asbestos cement
products.
• Wet down material to reduce the release of dust
• Work in well ventilated areas where possible
• Immediately dispose of smaller asbestos pieces and collected dust
in plastic bags, which are clearly labelled asbestos waste.
 STEM FIBRE
Example – Jute fibre
• This fiber are extracted from the ribbon of the stem.
• Use retting process in extracting this this kind of fiber from the long lasting life
stem or the bast.
• give more application toward strength, lightweight and noise absorption.
 Properties of Jute fibre
• favor moderately high specific strength and
stiffness
• cheap with high performance composite
• easy availability, low cost, high strength (tensile
strength).
• developed with different thermoplastic and
thermoset polymers such as jute reinforce
polyester, epoxy composite and jute reinforced
polypylene.
Propertis of Jute-polyester Composite
• High in mechanical properties
• The percentage of fibre volume affetcs the
composite mechanical properties such as
tensile, strain, toughness and moduli.
Processing and extraction of jute fibre
• The process - retting process
• To extract fine fibers from jute plant,
- the first parameter were considered is if the fiber
can be easily removed from the jute hurd or core
before the crop been harvested.
• Jute stalk after harvesting are submerged in soft
running water in bundles in 20 days.
• then, grabbed in bundles and hit with a long wooden
hammer to make the fiber loose from the jute hurd or
core.
• Then, the extracted jute fiber is washed with water and
left to dry.
 Application
• Give advance in strength, lightweight and noise
absorption
• commercially important in the automotive and
building industry, i.e roofing.
• As decorative, vast, in sacking, yarn and carpet
backing, all now replaced by synthetic fibres.
 FRUIT FIBRE
Example – Banana fibre
• Banana fibers obtained from the stem of banana plant (Musa sapientum)
present important advantages such as low density, appropriate stiffness
and mechanical properties and high disposability and renewability
• Banana fiber was used because of its ability to be produced in a
continuous form, and hence able to be produce into woven mat form
 Properties of banana fibre
• chemical composition are cellulose, hemicellulose and
lignin
• is better in terms of fineness and spinnability which
include ring spinning, open-end spinning, bast fiber
spinning and semi-worsted spinning.
• highly strong fiber, has smaller elongation and its
weight is light.
• it has strong moisture absorption quality
• can be categorized as eco-friendly fiber because it is
bio-degradable and has no negative effect on
environment
 Properties of banana-polyester
composite

• the percentage volume fractions of banana fibre effects

the tensile strength.
- The results shows that an increasing of percentage
volume fractions of banana fibre increase the the
tensile modulus of the composite.
- While, for the tensile strength, only after 0.1% volume
fraction of the fibre, the tensile strength increase
gradually.
 Processing and
extraction of banana
fibre

Japanese Nepalese
method method
 Japanese method
• In the Japanese method of making banana fiber, the
care is taken as early from the plant cultivation stage
• To ensure their softness, the leaves and shoots of the
banana plant are pruned periodically.
• harvested shoots are first boiled in lye to prepare the
fibers for making the yarn, whereas at the same time
the banana shoots give away fibers having varying
degrees of softness.
• As a results, different qualities of yarns and textiles
produced that can be used for specific purposes.
different qualities of yarns and textiles produced that can be used for specific purposes

The outermost fibers of the shoots are While the innermost part of banana fiber
the coarsest ones and more suitable for is the softest and widely used for making
making such home furnishing as kimono and kamishimo, the traditional
tablecloth. Japanese apparels.
 Nepalese method
• Second method is Nepalese method in which the trunk of the banana plant is
harvested instead of the shoots.
• The steps
1) small pieces of these trunks are put through a softening process for
mechanical extraction of the fibers, bleaching and then drying to produce fiber
that has appearance similar to silk.
- During the processed, only the aged bark or the decaying outer layers of the
banana plant are harvested and soaked in water to quicken the natural process.
2) After that, when all the chlorophyll is dissolved and only cellulose fibers
remain, they are extruded into pulp so that they may become suitable for spinning
into yarn.
3) The yarn is then hand-dyed and these rugs are woven by hand –knotted
methods again by the women of Nepal.
 Applications of banana fibre
• The application of banana fiber only limited for making
items like ropes, mats and some other composite materials
• home furnishings.
• used to make fine cushion covers, necties, bags, table
cloths, curtains
• due to its being lightweight and comfortable to wear, Japan
people also preferred to use kimono and kamishimo as
summer wear.
 The processing of the plant fibres
composite.
• Hand lay up process:
The fibres are manually placed into a one-
sided gel coated male or female mould

A matrix of thermosetting resin is rolled onto

the fibres using an hand roller

More layers can be added and, after drying,

the composite part can be removed from the
mould.
• Compression moulding process:

The mould is closed and pressure is then applied to

force the material to fill up the entire mold cavity

Excess material is channelled away by the overflow

grooves

The heat and pressure are maintained until the

plastic material is cured
• Nowadays, natural fiber has been used in industries and
manufacturing company for its enormous potential for application
in different engineering utility.
• It is widely used due to their several advantages which are cost
effective, renewable material and also environment friendly.
• There are three types of natural fibers which are plant
fibers, animal fibers and mineral fibers. Among them, plant fibers
are used much higher compare to others because of its
renewability, recyclability, availability and environmental friendly.
For mineral fiber, asbestos is less used or prohibited in certain
country because of carcinogenic mineral.
• By using natural fiber composites, they would be sustainable and
biodegradable. Thus, it is good in other to save our environment.