Characterisation and utilization of natural coconut fibres composites

Two thousand fibres were randomly taken from a coir fibre stack, characters of the fibres Were analysed. It was shown that length of the fibres was in the range between 8 and 337 mm. The fibres amount with the length range of 15-145 mm was 81.95% of all measured fibres. Weight of fibres with the length range of 35-225 mm accounted for 88.34% of all measurement. The average fineness of the coir fibres was 27.94 tex. Longer fibres usually had higher diameters. Composite boards were fabricated by using a heat press machine with the coir fibre as the reinforcement and the rubber as matrix. Tensile strength of the composites was investigated. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.