Effect of oil palm nano filler on mechanical and morphological properties of kenaf reinforced epoxy composites

Epoxy based hybrid nanocomposites was prepared by dispersing the nano filler (nano OPEFB filler, MMT, OMMT) at 3% loading through high speed mechanical stirrer followed by wet hand lay-up technique. Mechanical and morphology properties of hybrid nanocomposites were carried out. Obtained results indicated that the addition of 3% nano OPEFB filler into the kenaf epoxy composites considerably improves the mechanical and morphological properties. Nano OPEFB/kenaf hybrid epoxy nanocomposites displayed comparable properties to MMT/kenaf but less than OMMT/kenaf hybrid epoxy nanocomposites. We concluded that nano OPEFB hybrid composites will provide alternative constructional materials respect to steel, bricks and cement for Malaysia. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.