This study aims to investigate the optimum design of sandwich composite
reinforced sugar palm fiber (SPF) with albizzia sawdust (AS) core and investigate effect of
thermal cyclic and dynamic flexural loading on mechanical properties. The SPF was alkali
treated (5% NaOH) to remove lignin. The matrix used for skin composite reinforced SPF
was unsaturated polyester resin (UPRs), whereas urea formaldehyde (UF) resin was used as
binder of the core. The result shows that the skin composite reinforced by 4 hour of alkali
treated fiber has the highest strength. By using press mold method, the optimum fiber
content of the skin composite is about 30-35% (v/v). The 60% of sawdust content (w/w)
results the highest mechanical properties of core. By using the optimum properties of skin
and core, the sandwich composite, whose 2 mm of skin and 10 mm of core thickness, has
better mechanical performance compared to that with other dimension. The sandwich
composite, treated by using thermal cyclic, has lower mechanical properties compared to
untreated composite. The increasing of temperature and cyclic number decreases the
bending strength and impact toughness of the sandwich composite. For dynamic flexural
loading test, the increasing of load cyclic number increases deflection and decreases
stiffness of the sandwich composite. This composite has a good opportunity to be applied
for housing and furniture panels