Electronic Theses and Dissertation

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pengaruh jumlah lapis serat leaf sheath terhadap sifat mekanik komposit polyester. Serat leaf sheath merupakan serat alami yang berasal dari pohon kelapa. Serat diberi perlakuan awal dengan merendam dalam larutan 5% NaOH dan air selama 1 jam. Perlakuan ini bertujuan untuk menghilangkan zat yang menghambat proses perekatan. Pada penelitian ini disiapkan sampel bahan komposit 5 variasi yaitu 1 lapis serat,2 lapis serat, 3 lapis serat, 4 lapis serat dan 5 lapis serat. Untuk mendapatkan sifat mekanik komposit dilakukan pengujian bending berdasarkan standar ASTM D790. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa jumlah lapis serat leaf sheath dapat mempengaruhi sifat mekanik komposit. Kekuatan bending yang dihasilkan meningkat dengan seiring bertambahnya jumlah lapis serat. Nilai kekuatan bending terbesar yaitu pada lapis serat 5 yaitu 65.92 Mpa. Nilai regangan yang dihasilkan berkisar antara 0.019 hingga 0.031 mm/mm, nilai regangan paling besar terdapat pada variasi jumlah lapis serat 5. Modulus elastisitas yang dihasilkan berkisar antara 1284.53 hingga 2596.27 Mpa, nilai modulus elastisitas paling rendah yaitu pada lapis serat 1.

The research was conducted to study the effect of leaf sheath fiber layer number of mechanical properties of polyester composite. Leaf sheath fibers are a natural fiber that comes from the coconut tree. Having composite was made the fiber was treated with 5% of alkaline (NaOH) for one hour to remove any substances that could inhibit the bonding process. For the studies composite was made with five different layer ; one, two, three, four, and five layer of leaf sheath coconut. To determine mechanical properties of the composite, bending test was conducted with ASTM D790 standard. The result shows that the layer of leaf sheath has significantly effect mechanical properties of composite. The bending strength has increase with the increase of the number of leaf sheath layer. The highest bending strength found in the composite with 5 layer of leaf sheath with bending strength of 65.92 Mpa. In general the strain value accure between 0.019 to 0.031mm/mm. where the highest strain value observed at the variation of 5 layer leaf sheath. The result also shows that modulus of elasticity accure between 1284.53 to 2596.27 Mpa, the lowest modulus of elasticity found in the composite with 1 layer of leaf sheath fiber.