Abstract—Indonesia as a tropical agricultural country has great potential to develop and utilize fiber derived from agricultural waste. Rice husks are an important by-product of rice milling process that can be used as reinforcement in composite products. The purpose of this study was to examine the mechanical properties of rice husks fiber polyester composites. Composites were produced with unsaturated polyester resin as the matrix and rice husks as fiber. The matrix type is polyester Yukalac 157 BQTN, and methyl ethyl ketone peroxide as catalyst. Composites were made by hand lay-up techniques, with the variation of fiber weight fraction 20, 30, 40 and 50%. Tensile test specimens were made according to the ASTM D3039, and flexural test specimens according to the ASTM D790M. The results showed that the tensile and flexural strength of the composites increased when the fiber weight fraction increased.
Index Terms—Flexural strength, polyester, rice husks, tensile strength, weight fraction.
The authors are with the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Udayana University, Jimbaran, Bali, 80361, Indonesia (e-mail: iwasura@gmail.com, gungsuriadi@yahoo.com).
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Cite:I Wayan Surata, I Gusti Agung Kade Suriadi, and Krissanti Arnis, "Mechanical Properties of Rice Husks Fiber Reinforced Polyester Composites," International Journal of Materials, Mechanics and Manufacturing vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 165-168, 2014.
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