Pultruded Kenaf Fibre Reinforced Composites: Effect of Different Kenaf Fibre Yarn Tex

Manufacturing high performance composites from natural fibres is one of an ambitious goal currently being pursued by researchers across the globe. The ecological benefits of this material among many others are environmentally friendly and do not cause health problems. In terms of sustainability, the natural fibre is an appropriate alternative candidate to replace the synthetic and other types of reinforcement since it is a renewable resource. In order for natural fibre reinforced composite to become competitive, it has to accommodate the processing avenues of which has long being associated with its synthetic counterpart. Among those proven technology in manufacturing advanced engineering component is pultrusion. In this paper, an attempt has been made to produce pultrudedkenaf fibre reinforced unsaturated polyester composites via pultrusion. The properties of the pultrudedkenaf fibre reinforced composites with different kenaf yarn sizes are reported and compared. Pultruded composites made with smaller tex number i.e. tex 1400 shows better compression properties of as compared to larger tex number. Smaller tex number help to produce better wetting on fibre during production of composites, consequently help to increase its properties. Pultruded composites made with smaller tex number i.e. tex 1400 shows better compression properties of as compared to larger tex number. Smaller tex number help to produce better wetting on fibre during production of composites, consequently help to increase its properties. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.