The mechanical performance of kenaf
fibre/homopolymer polypropylene/binder composites was
studied. Tensile test was used to investigate the tensile
strength, tensile modulus and percentage of elongation.
Kenaf fibre-homopolymer polypropylene (KFHPP)
composites were compounded in an internal batch mixer
with the ratio of 10:90, 30:70 and 50:50 in weight
fraction. Furthermore, maleated polypropylene (MAPP) as a binder with 1, 3 and 5 % expressed as
percentage of weight ratio was mixed in KFHPP composites. A hot pressing machine was used for
producing samples of dog bone. From this study, it is found that the tensile strength and tensile
modulus increase with increasing kenaf fibre loading and higher percentage of MAPP. In addition,
the elongation at break for KFHPP composites shows lower result for increasing kenaf fibre loading.
However, when the percentage of MAPP added to KFHPP composites increases, the elongation at
break increased slightly. Thus, the result shows that the binder can enhance the interaction between
kenaf fibre and homopolymer polypropylene composites, with resulted in better tensile strength and
tensile modulus but less function at elongation at break