Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Sciences (JMES)

ISSN (Print): 2289-4659; e-ISSN: 2231-8380; Volume 6, pp. 940-948, June 2014
© Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Malaysia
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15282/jmes.6.2014.20.0090

FEASIBILITY STUDY OF NATURAL FIBER COMPOSITE MATERIAL FOR

ENGINEERING APPLICATION

R. S. Taufik*, Nurul Farah Adibah M., M.R. Muhamad and H. Hasib

Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka

Hang Tuah Jaya, 76100 Durian Tunggal, Melaka, Malaysia
*
Email: [email protected]
Phone : +606-331-6899 ; Fax : +606-331-6411

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a feasibility study of natural fiber-tin lead alloy composite material
for engineering application. The specimen aluminum mold plate was made using a laser
cutting machine. Rice husk was selected for introduction to the tin-lead alloy composite.
Sand casting techniques and a hot press molding machine were used to produce the
specimen. Three types of testing were used in these studies: tensile test, flexural test and
hardness test. A new technique for preparing a natural fiber and metal matrix composite
material using a manual mixer has been developed to stir the mixture uniformly during
the solidification phase. The SiC particulate and rice husk as a natural fiber were
introduced to the tin-lead alloy for engineering applications to maintain the hardness of
the material. It was found that the mechanical properties of the fabricated composites
increased through reinforcement with SiC and rice husk in the material matrix of Sn,
particularly for flexural and hardness properties. However, the result shows the tensile
strength not significantly improved as the tensile strength for the composite is lower
than that for tin-lead alloy (60-40). The experiment also obtained better performance for
the tensile modulus and flexural modulus. There is potential to use rice husk in Sn
composite material for engineering applications.

Keywords: Feasibility study; natural fiber; composite material; engineering application.

INTRODUCTION

Natural fiber composite is widely discussed in various manufacturing industries due to

its impact in reducing the material cost and overall production cost, and increasing
design requirements, and customer satisfaction(Adebisi, Maleque, & Rahman, 2011;
Balcı & Gündoğdu, 2013; Hariprasad, Dharmalingam, & Praveen Raj, 2013; Jeffrey,
Tarlochan, & Rahman, 2011). There are various applications in order to increase
strength ratios and flexibility in design of products. Natural fiber composite is one of the
accepted approaches. These natural fibers have many properties which make them an
attractive alternative to traditional materials. Many researchers have described the
highly specific properties and advantages of natural fiber, such as stiffness (Sherman,
1999), impact resistance (Aeyzarq Muhammad Hadzreel & Siti Rabiatull Aisha, 2013;
Sydenstricker, Mochnaz, & Amico, 2003), flexibility (Ibrahim, Sapuan, & Faieza,
2012; Nair, Diwan, & Thomas, 1996), modulus (Balcı & Gündoğdu, 2013; Eichhorn et
al., 2001) and renewable. Natural fibers can be grouped into three categories; bast, seed
and leaf (Sgriccia, Hawley, & Misra, 2008). The design of natural fiber composites
involves fabricating physical specimens for analysis of the microstructures of the
natural fiber product and studying their mechanical behavior (Bachtiar, Sapuan, &

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Hamdan, 2010; Brahmakumar, Pavithran, & Pillai, 2005; Du, Wu, Yan, Kortschot, &
Farnood, 2014; Ihueze, Okafor, & Okoye, 2013; Jacob, Thomas, & Varughese, 2004;
Mohammed, Salmiaton, Wan Azlina, & Mohamad Amran, 2012; Shan, Ghazali, &
Idris, 2013). Most researchers have presented the use of natural fiber composites for
particular purposes. The thermal conductivity of natural fiber composites has attracted
researchers. The most recent and relevant works discuss the use of fiber epoxy
composites to study the anisotropy thermal conductivity properties (Liu, Yang, &
Takagi, 2014; Umar, Zainudin, & Sapuan, 2012) and the use of coupling agents with
natural fiber and polypropylene composites to study the adhesion between natural fiber
and thermoplastic matrix (El-Sabbagh, 2014).
The application of design for sustainability faces various challenges in
manufacturing. The most outstanding challenges to be resolved include contributing to
the transition towards a sustainable society by integrating social, economic,
environmental and institutional aspects and by offering opportunities to get involved,
and express one’s own identity beyond consuming standardized mass-market products.
Several design methodologies have recently been proposed to study the feasibility of
use, from the angles of design, sustainability science and sustainable consumption
analysis, developing tools and rules (the SCALES principles) to support (Design for
Sustainability (DfS) (Spangenberg, Fuad-Luke, & Blincoe, 2010) and a systems
analysis perspective that extends the traditional process design framework to a green
process design, green energy and industrial ecology leading to sustainability (Diwekar
& Shastri, 2010). Green process design involves starting with design decisions as early
as the chemical and material selection stages at one end, and managing and planning
decisions at the other end. However, uncertainties and multiple and conflicting
objectives are inherent in such a design process. Uncertainties increase further in
industrial ecology. A method and application of manufacturing processes in producing
natural fiber composite to introduce to metal matrices will be proposed. The
characterization of natural fiber-tin composite will be performed based on mechanical
and physical properties. In order to produce the natural fiber-tin composite, preparation
using the sand casting process is selected.
Rice husk (RH) is an agro-waste material of which approximately 100 million
tons is produced per year. Approximately, 20kg of rice husk is obtained for 100kg of
rice. Rice husks contain organic substances and 20% inorganic material (Hardinnawirda
& SitiRabiatull Aisha, 2012; Hariprasad et al., 2013; Tashima, Silva, J.L., & M.B.,
2004). The reasons for using RH in the construction industry include its high
availability, low bulk density (90-150kg/m3), toughness, its abrasive nature, resistance
to weathering and unique composition. The main components in RH are silica, cellulose
and lignin. Rice husk contains a high concentration of silica in amorphous and
crystalline (quartz) forms. The presence of amorphous silica determines the pozzolanic
effect of RH. The pozzolanic effect exhibits cementitious properties that increase the
rate at which the material gains strength. The extent of the strength development
depends on the chemical composition of the alumina and silica in the material. The
external surface of the husk contains a high concentration of amorphous silica which
decreases inwards and is practically non-existent within the husk. At the moment, green
manufacturing can be described as aiming to prevent pollution and save energy through
the discovery and development of new knowledge, which reduces the use or generation
of hazardous substances in the design, manufacture and use of chemicals or in
processes. Based on a literature review, there is still potential to explore the use of
natural fiber composite materials and what type of natural fiber composite needs to be

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further investigated properly for engineering application. This has motivated the authors
to study the feasibility of introducing natural fiber composites to metal alloys for
engineering applications. The main reason for selecting tin (Sn) alloy as the
composition material is because it is easy to recycle as a result of the casting process
The waste material used in the study was taken from sprues and risers in sand casting
molds. The objective of this research was to study the feasibility of using rice husk in
tin-lead alloy and SiC as a particulate reinforced for further engineering application.

MATERIALS AND METHOD

In this study, tin (Sn) was chosen as a core material and as recycled material, and silicon
carbide (Keating & Nesic) and rice husk as reinforced materials. Silicon carbide (SiC,
carborundum), is made by fusing sand and coke at 2200oC, and is the grit on high
quality sandpaper. It is very hard and maintains its strength to temperatures of 1400oC,
has good thermal shock resistance and excellent abrasion resistance, but, like all
ceramics, is brittle. It has the highest corrosion resistance of all advanced ceramics. As
the hardness for SiC up to 2600 Hardness Vickers, it was chosen as the supported
material for making the specimen. Because SiC is a ceramic element, it cannot stand
alone for making clamps, but needs to be combined with other metals. In this project,
important features such as as combination materials must be taken from recycled
materials and tin (Sn) has been chosen as that material. Sn is very ductile material which
has a maximum value of only 18MPa tensile strength and maximum melting point of
only 232oC. In this project, all three materials will be combined in the casting process in
which SiC and rice husk is mixed into molten Sn. Tin was used as the main material for
this project because it is one of the metals that can be recycled. Tin was first used as an
element for alloying copper to bronze, which is easily castable for copper molds and
allows the creation of complex castings. It is a soft metal of shiny silver and is resistant
to corrosion in air and water. Tin corrosion resistance worked in bronze and tin alloy as
a component of long-term electric welding, and as a protective coating for other metals.
Tin is a very ductile metal at room temperature, and is also flexible. This is also much
less ductile thin skin descending on 392oF. Through the literature review it was found
that tin is also low in strength. Tin is easy to bend or crash and cannot stand at high load
force. If tin is used for making the clamp, the combination of material needs to increase
its strength.
Silicon Carbide (Keating & Nesic) is used for this project in powder phase. The
weight of SiC used was an average of 10mg. Silicon carbide is also known as
carborundum, its black (and green) hexagonal crystal is hard and sharp, and its physical
and chemical properties are good. Silicon carbide has good heat resistance, thermal
conductivity, aseismatic properties, wear resistance, high and low ductility. It is also a
semi-conductor with non-linear electrical resistance. Silicon carbide is very chemically
stable. It is an antacid and antalkali and does not respond to the fuming of nitric acid,
sulphuric acid, boiling, hydrochloric acid or hydrofluoric acid. Sodium silicate is on the
attack 1300A°C, calcium and magnesium oxide and attack on copper oxide reacts
1000A and 800 °C to form a metal silicates. Slow oxidation occurs in air above 1000°C.
Silicon carbide is also dissociates raised or cast iron and silicon oxides react with the
metal in the melt whist, exothermic energy carbon provides furnace. Before proceeding
with the specimen making, the drawing process needs to be performed for the mold. The
mold size was based on the ASTM specimen standard of ASTM E 8 for tensile test
specimen, ASTM E 855 for flexural test specimen and ASTM E 18 for hardness test

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specimen. The mold was designed using SolidWorks and needs to be saved as a DXF
file for a laser cutting machine. The mold plate is made by using aluminum material
because the melting point for aluminum is higher than that for tin. Figure 1 shows the
model of specimen mold.
Laser cutting is a cutting process that melts the material in the beam’s path using
a laser. Materials that are heat treatable will be case hardened at the cut edges. This may
be beneficial if the hardened edges are functionally desirable in the finished parts.
However, further machining operations such as finishing are required, because the
bottom surface if rough. Aluminum is used because the melting point is higher than tin,
which is up to 658oC. Once designing the mold using SolidWorks is complete, the DXF
file is transferred to a diskette to be read by the laser cutting machine. The file is edited
to specify the dimensions of the raw aluminum plate and inserted in the machine’s task
panel. The laser cutting machine will then read the file and run the program, following
the shape of the drawing. During the cutting process, the assist gas serves primarily to
blow the molten material from the cut zone. This helps to produce an edge quality that
is generally superior to that produced by a band saw. However, the melted material
tends to flow along the edge and cling to the backside of the cut. While this slag is
easily removable, there are inter-granular cracks emanating from the cut surface on
some alloys.

Figure 1. Model of specimen mold.

After the materials have been solidified, the next process is hot pressing. The hot
press machine can set the temperature up to 300oC. Basically, this small hot press is
used for polymer materials. This is because the melting point for polymer is lower than
metal. In this project, tin only required 237oC to melt. The machine was switched on
and the temperature set for 280oC. The temperature is set higher than the melting point
of tin to make sure it is easier for the tin to melt. The tin with the mold is mounted on
the flat mild steel plate, and on the machine’s lower mold. When the temperature at
upper mold and lower mold is met, the lower mold is compressed until it touches the
specimen mold by pushing the compress button. The return button is then pushed to turn
down the lower mold. The specimen mold is taken out of the lower mold and solidified
at room temperature.

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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Three specimens were prepared for tensile testing to obtain a more accurate result.
Table 1 shows the specimen dimensions referring to ASTM E 8M, which are the
standard test methods for tension testing of metallic materials. A thickness of 12.5mm
and width of 19mm were used for the test specimen in specimen preparation.

Table 1. Specimen dimension.

Thickness (mm) Widthb(mm) Gauge length (mm)

Specimen 1, 2, 3 3.0 12.5 50

Specimen 1 shows a fracture in the center, Specimen 2 fractured at the top and
Specimen 3 fractured below the center. In a tensile test, the material fractures at the
weakest region. All three specimens have their plastic region where the material
irreversible and deformed to another shape and stretch. The plastic region was between
the end of the elastic region and the fracture point. It was found that Specimen 2
fractured at the top of the gauge length whereas Specimen 1 and Specimen 3 fractured
at the center of the gauge length. It was found that the rice husks can be introduced into
the tin silicon carbide using a hot press machine. The results show that the process of
the molten metal and natural fiber of the mold affected the shape of the specimen. In
addition, the uniformity of the natural fiber and metal matrix composites allows the
specimen characteristic during testing. The tensile tests resulted in average maximum
force being achieved at 1355.33N.
Figure 2 shows the tensile test result and presents the stress-strain graph for
Specimens 1, 2, and 3. The average maximum tensile strength was achieved at 36MPa.
The composite material tested resulted in a strength lower than that of the tin-lead alloy
(60-40 solder) at 55MPa (Cambridge Engineering Selector, 2011), and shows a less
linear-elastic region in the stress-strain curve. Compared to the tin-lead alloy (60-40
solder), the composite material was more ductile because the mixture of the composite
was not uniform in the mold. Natural fiber composites were found in the specimen,
however, the result shows of the potential for natural fiber composite to be applied in
engineering.

Specimen 1

Specimen 2

Specimen 3

Figure 2. Stress-strain graph for Specimen 1, 2, and 3.

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The elastic limit value was achieved at an average of 27.8MPa. All three
specimens had a value of yield strength (elastic limit) less than the elastic limit for tin-
lead alloy (60-40 solder) of 30MPa minimum. It was found that the elastic limit point
was lower and the composite material starts to deform plastically after less than 30MPa.
Once the yield point is passed, some fraction of the deformation will be permanent and
non-reversible. The low elasticity characteristic is good for this composite material
because while the strap clamp is clamped on the machining table, it can withstand the
force applied. The yield strength force required to achieve the elastic limit was
presented at an average of 1030.33N. There is therefore suitable yield strength to allow
consideration for further engineering application. Table 2 shows the dimension
characteristics used for flexural tests. Figure 5 shows the specimen result after finishing
the flexural test. All three specimens show the almost same resultant shape.

Table 2. Dimension for flexural test specimen.

Thickness Width Lower support

Units mm mm mm
Specimen flexural 1 3.00 20.00 74.00

Figure 5. Specimen result for flexural test.

Figure 6 shows the force-stroke graph for the specimen. It was determined that
the average maximum force required for a flexural test for the composite materials was
achieved at 117.7N. The testing was conducted by setting the speed at 2mm/min and
deflection at 35mm. In addition, flexural testing found the average maximum stress at
72.60MPa.
Specimen 1

Specimen 2

Specimen 3

Figure 6. Force-stroke graph.

Flexural Test 1 shows the highest maximum stress since the force required was
also the highest value. The highest elastic strength resulted at flexural testing on average

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 Feasibility study of natural fiber composite material for engineering application

at 6342MPa. The parameters of the elastic region used was 10mm for the stroke and
80N for the force. The maximum flexural strength for tin-lead alloy (60-40 solder) was
40MPa which was lower than the experimental result for the composite material. The
material properties for the composite material were more brittle than the tin-lead alloy
(60-40 solder). A hardness test was conducted using a Rockwell hardness machine, with
the value unit in HRB. Because the specimen has less flatness, Vickers hardness testing
cannot be used. The test was conducted 30 times to get more accurate values. The
material hardness property of tin-lead alloy (60-40 solder) was 25 HV. Figure 7 shows
the chart of hardness values for HRB and HV. The average of the hardness tests was
achieved at 88.4HRB, equivalent to 177HV (Vickers Hardness).

Figure 7. Hardness result in HRB.

CONCLUSIONS

A new technique for preparing a natural fiber and metal matrix composite material
using a manual mixer was developed to lead the mixture uniformly during the
solidification phase. SiC material and rice husk as a natural fiber can be introduced to
the tin-lead alloy material matrix for engineering applications, to maintain the hardness
of the material. It was found that the mechanical properties of the fabricated composites
increased by reinforcing SiC and rice husk in the material matrix of tin-lead alloy. The
testing shows a significant improvement in flexural and hardness properties. However,
tensile strength was not significant improved, and was lower than that for tin-lead alloy
(60-40). Food performance was obtained for the tensile modulus and flexural modulus.
As a result, it is feasible to introduce rice husk to metal matrix composite material for
further engineering applications.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to thank the MTUN COE Research Grant Scheme,
MTUN/2012//UTeM-FKP/12 M00020 and the Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering,
Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, UTeM.

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