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9th National Symposium on Polymeric Materials (NSPM 2009) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 11 (2010) 012011 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/11/1/012011

Flexural Properties of Sugarcane Bagasse Pith And Rind

Reinforced Poly(Vinyl Chloride)

R. Wirawan1*, S. M. Sapuan1, Y. Robiah1 and A. Khalina1,2

1
Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia,
43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
2
Institute of Tropical Forestry and Forest Products (INTROP),
Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

*E-mail: riza.wirawan@gmail.com

Abstract. Sugarcane bagasse is divided into two major components. They are pith and rind.
Pith is the inner part of sugarcane bagasse while rind is the outer part of it. In this study, the
flexural properties of pith reinforced poly (vinyl chloride) composites were compared to that
of rind composites with the same matrix in variation of fibre content. The composites were
produced by compression moulding method. The fibre contents were 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%,
and 50% in weight. Three-point bending tests were carried out to measure the flexural
properties of the composites. It has been found that, in general, the addition of fibre improved
the flexural modulus of the materials. Meanwhile, the rind composites were of superior
flexural properties compared to the pith composites.

1. Introduction
Natural fibres have been widely reported as a potential alternative to conventional reinforcing
materials in polymer composites. They offer low cost, low density, renewable and ecological friendly
with acceptable mechanical properties.
One of natural fibres with high availability is sugarcane bagasse, a residue of sugarcane milling
process. In Malaysia, the annual production of sugarcane bagasse reaches a number of a million tonne
[1]. Nearly 30% of that number will turn into bagasse when it is crushed in a sugar factory. As the
stock is abundant, the price of sugarcane bagasse is cheaper than that of other natural fibres [3].
The stalk of the sugarcane plant includes an outer rind and inner pith [2]. The rind is made up of a
hard fibrous substance surrounding a central core of pith, which is softer due to a spongy structured
component.
In this study, the flexural properties of untreated pith-reinforced unplasticised poly (vinyl chloride)
composites were compared to that of untreated rind composites in the same matrix with variation of
fibre content. The effect of different fibre source (pith and rind) was observed as well as the effect of
fibre content to the flexural properties of sugarcane bagasse fibre PVC (SBF/PVC) composites.

2. Experimental

2.1. Materials
The studied matrix was unplasticised poly (vinyl chloride) compound (PVC) IR045A supplied by
Polymer Resources Sdn. Bhd., Kelang, Selangor, Malaysia. The studied sugarcane bagasse

c 2010 Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd 1
9th National Symposium on Polymeric Materials (NSPM 2009) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 11 (2010) 012011 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/11/1/012011

(Saccharum officinarum) was a residue of the sugarcane milling process obtained from sugarcane
juice makers in Malaysia. The sun-dried bagasse was chopped using a knife-ring flaker followed by
sieving to obtain 40 mesh size of fibres.

2.2. Preparation of composites

Compression moulding technique was conducted for composite preparation. Thermal mixing process
was carried out using a Haake Polydrive R600 internal mixer at the total time of 15 minutes. PVC
pellets were fed into the chamber and mixed for five minutes, followed by feeding of the SBF at the
temperature and rotor speed of 170 oC and 50 rpm, respectively. The SBF content were 10%, 20%,
30%, 40% and 50% of the total weight of composites.
The thermal mixing process was followed by hot pressing. The pressing temperature and time were
set to 170 oC and 12.5 min, respectively. After hot-pressing, the mixture was then cooled under
pressure to room temperature. The final products were in the form of plates with dimensions 15 cm x
15 cm x 3 mm.

2.3. Flexural testing

The hot pressed products were cut using a band saw machine to form a rectangular shape with
dimensions 13 cm x 1.3 cm x 3 mm for flexural testing specimen. A three point bending flexural test
was conducted using Instron 3365 machine with crosshead-speed of 2 mm/min. Flexural strength and
modulus were recorded and the average of 5 specimens were reported.

3. Results and Discussion

3.1. Flexural strength of the composites

Figure 1 shows that the flexural strength of both pith/PVC and rind/PVC composites at any fibre
content were lower than that of unfilled PVC. On the other hand, the rind/PVC composites were of
higher flexural strength compared to pith/PVC at the same fibre content. Among the composites, it
seems that there was inconsistent trend in the flexural strength as the effect of fibre loading.
The superior flexural strength of rind/PVC compared to pith/PVC composites showed the effect of
intrinsic properties of fibre to the properties of composites due to a difference in morphology of pith
and rind components[2].

Figure 1. Flexural strength of SBF/PVC composites

2
9th National Symposium on Polymeric Materials (NSPM 2009) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 11 (2010) 012011 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/11/1/012011
The addition of the fibre was failed to enhance the flexural strength of the PVC. The flexural
strength of PVC decreased when it is filled by the fibres which are of higher tensile strength compared
to PVC. Hence, there must be other factor that influenced in the flexural strength beside the intrinsic
properties of the materials. One factor that is suspected to responsible is surface roughness of the
composites. Due to the presence of fibre, the surface of the hot pressed composite was less smooth
compared to that of hot pressed PVC. This surface roughness may initiate some edge cracks that lead
to material failure. The surface roughness itself was uncontrolled. The variability of surface roughness
may be found in the composites without the correlation with the fibre content. Consequently, the
inconsistent trend was obtained.

3.2. Flexural modulus of the composites

It can be seen from Figure 2 that the flexural modulus of rind/PVC was also superior compared to
pith/PVC composites at the same fibre content. In addition, more consistent trend was found on
flexural modulus presented in Figure 2. The flexural moduli of both pith/PVC and rind/PVC
composites, in general, were observed to increase with increased fibre content. Contrasting with
flexural strength, flexural modulus of the composites was not affected much by surface roughness.
The inherent properties of the compounding materials play more dominant role than the surface
roughness in this property. As the fibre was stiffer than the PVC, stiffer materials were obtained at
higher fibre loading.

Figure 2. Flexural modulus of SBF/PVC composites

The decrease of flexural modulus at low fibre content can be explained by the fact that there is a
reduction in effective cross-sectional area, which is an area that participates in transfer of the loading
stresses. The loading stress can be transferred completely if only there is perfect adhesion between
fibre and matrix. In absent of adhesion, the interface layer between fibre and matrix are not able to
transfer the stress [4]. In the actual case, there qualities of adhesion between matrix and fibre are
varied, which range from poor (almost no adhesion) to excellent (almost perfect adhesion). This
quality of adhesion affects the effective cross-sectional area. Better quality of adhesion results in
higher effective cross-sectional area.

4. Conclusions
There is no significant effect of fibre content on the flexural strength of SBF/PVC composites. The
effect of fibre content was covered by the other effect, such as surface roughness. However,
significant effect of fibre content was observed on the flexural stiffness. The flexural modulus
3
9th National Symposium on Polymeric Materials (NSPM 2009) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 11 (2010) 012011 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/11/1/012011

increased with the fibre content. At the same time, it was observed that rind/PVC composites offer
better flexural strength and stiffness compared to those of pith/PVC composites.

Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank Universiti Putra Malaysia for financial support of this study and fellowship
funding for the main author through the Research University Grant Scheme (RUGS; Project no:
05/01/07/0190RU) and Graduate Research Fellowship (GRF).

References

[1] FAO 2009 Food and Agricultural Commodities Production.

[2] Lee S C, Mariatti M 2008 The effect of bagasse fibers obtained (from rind and pith
component) on the properties of unsaturated polyester composites Materials Letters 62: 2253-
2256
[3] Vazquez A, Dominguez V A, Kenny J M 1999 Bagasse fiber-polypropylene based composites
Journal of Thermoplastic Composite Materials 12: 477-497
[4] Wang N, Zhang X, Ma X, Fang J 2008 Influence of carbon black on the properties of
plasticized poly(lactic acid) composites Polymer Degradation and Stability 93: 1044-1052