Development of Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Composites for Bumper Beam in Automobile

This research aims to use oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) fibers to reinforce epoxy resin for bumper beam in cars to replace epoxy/glass fiber composite. EFB fibers were extracted by two methods; chemical method by treating with 10-30% sodium hydroxide (% by weight of fiber) and mechanical method by steam explosion process at 12-20 kgf/cm2 for 5 mins. Then, the obtained fibers were bleached by hydrogen peroxide. The results show that the chemical method can eliminate lignin better than the other and provided stronger fibers. Increasing of alkaline concentration yielded the decrease of lignin content and increase of cellulose content, while no significant difference on fiber size and strength was observed. In steam explosion method, increasing of pressure vapor affected to more dark brown color and disintegrated fibers. Therefore, the optimal method for preparing EFB fibers for reinforcement of epoxy composite was chemical treatment using 30%NaOH, followed by bleaching. Then, the EFB fibers extracted by chemical method at 30%NaOH were used for reinforcing epoxy composite with fiber contents of 0-10%w/w and compared to epoxy/glass fiber composite. The results show that flexural modulus did not increase with increasing fiber content. However, the chemical treated fibers can support composite from falling apart after testing like glass fiber reinforced composite with fiber contents upper than 7.5%w/w. Impact strength and storage modulus of alkaline treated palm fiber reinforced composites increased when fiber content more than 7.5%w/w. Thermal properties of composite, analyzed by DSC and DMTA, shows that the Tg increased with fiber content. Flexural modulus and thermal properties of EFB reinforced epoxy composites provided similar results to glass fiber reinforced composites. Therefore, EFB fiber reinforced epoxy composite could be an alternative green material for bumper beam in automobile.