Morphological, Physical, and Mechanical Properties of Sugar-Palm (<i>Arenga pinnata</i> (<i>Wurmb</i>) <i>Merr</i>.)-Reinforced Silicone Rubber Biocomposites
Siti Humairah Kamarul Bahrain,
Nik Rozlin Nik Masdek,
Jamaluddin Mahmud,
M. N. Mohammed,
S. M. Sapuan,
R. A. Ilyas,
Abdullah Mohamed,
Mohamed A. Shamseldin,
Anas Abdelrahman,
M. R. M. Asyraf
Affiliations
Siti Humairah Kamarul Bahrain
School of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam 40450, Selangor, Malaysia
Nik Rozlin Nik Masdek
School of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam 40450, Selangor, Malaysia
Jamaluddin Mahmud
School of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam 40450, Selangor, Malaysia
M. N. Mohammed
Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Gulf University, Sanad 26489, Bahrain
S. M. Sapuan
Laboratory of Biocomposite Technology, Institute of Tropical Forestry and Forest Products (INTROP), Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia
R. A. Ilyas
School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru 81310, Johor, Malaysia
Abdullah Mohamed
Research Centre, Future University in Egypt, New Cairo 11835, Egypt
Mohamed A. Shamseldin
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering & Technology, Future University in Egypt, New Cairo 11845, Egypt
Anas Abdelrahman
Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Future University in Egypt, New Cairo 11845, Egypt
M. R. M. Asyraf
School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru 81310, Johor, Malaysia
The development of environmentally benign silicone composites from sugar palm fibre and silicone rubber was carried out in this study. The mechanical, physical, and morphological properties of the composites with sugar palm (SP) filler contents ranging from 0% to 16% by weight (wt%) were investigated. Based on the uniaxial tensile tests, it was found that the increment in filler content led to higher stiffness. Via dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), the viscoelastic properties of the silicone biocomposite showed that the storage modulus and loss modulus increased with the increment in filler content. The physical properties also revealed that the density and moisture absorption rate increased as the filler content increased. Inversely, the swelling effect of the highest filler content (16 wt%) revealed that its swelling ratio possessed the lowest rate as compared to the lower filler addition and pure silicone rubber. The morphological analysis via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that the sugar palm filler was evenly dispersed and no agglomeration could be seen. Thus, it can be concluded that the addition of sugar palm filler enhanced the stiffness property of silicone rubber. These new findings could contribute positively to the employment of natural fibres as reinforcements for greener biocomposite materials.
