Procedia Chemistry 4 ( 2012 ) 101 106

1876-6196 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

doi: 10.1016/j.proche.2012.06.015
Mechanical Properties of Sugar Palm Fibre Reinforced High
Impact Polystyrene Composites
S.M. Sapuan
a,
, D. Bachtiar
a,b

a
Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Lampung, Jalan Sumantri Brojonegoro 1, Bandar
Lampung 35145, Indonesia

Abstract
This paper presented a study on tensile properties of sugar palm fibre (SPF) reinforced high impact polystyrene
(HIPS) composites. Short SPFs were obtained by finely cutting long fibres with pulverisette tool and they were
filtered using a sieve to a size of 30-50 mesh. Five different fibre loadings of 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50% by weight were
mixed with HIPS polymer to form composites fabricated using melt mixer and hot press. Tensile tests of the
composites were carried out using Instron machine. The results showed that the increase of short SPF loading in
HIPS matrix improved tensile strength and modulus of the composites.

2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Keywords: Mechanical properties; sugar palm fibre; polystyrene; tensile properties.
1. Introduction
Sugar palm fibre (SPF) is a natural fibre derived from Arenga pinnata trees which were usually grown
in Southeast Asia [1]. This plant is getting serious attention in recent years because of its ability in
providing good sap for the production of alcohol fuel. There is a great opportunity to develop this plant to
produce alcohol fuel in countries like Indonesia and Malaysia because sugar palm trees are available in
abundance. The wastes from sugar palm trees are feasible to be used as fibres and fillers in polymeric
composites [2].
Some early studies carried out attempted to explore the capability of sugar palm fibre [3-5]. The
focuses of these studies were to determine the mechanical and morphological behaviours of the epoxy
composites made from sugar palm fibres. Results of the studies showed there was dependence of

Corresponding author. Tel.: +60-3-89466318; fax: +60-3-86567122

E-mail address: sapuan@eng.upm.edu.my
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
102 S.M. Sapuan and D. Bachtiar / Procedia Chemistry 4 ( 2012 ) 101 106
mechanical properties on the loading and arrangement of the fibres. Results also showed that a 10 wt%
woven roving fibre had the highest values of tensile strength and modulus compared to other
arrangements and fibre contents of the sugar palm fibres. The work of Sastra et.al. [4] showed that the
reinforcement of an epoxy matrix with sugar palm fibres resulted in a composite with good strength and
rigidity. Several other investigations of sugar palm fibre reinforced epoxy composites have been carried
out by considering the effect of alkali treatment [6,7], environmental treatment [8], and ageing tests [9].
One product namely a small boat has successfully been developed from sugar palm fibre composites [10].
However, the role of sugar palm fibres as reinforcement in thermoplastic composites has not been
studied in the past. This research investigates the tensile strength and modulus of sugar palm fibre
reinforced high impact polystyrene composites. High impact polystyrene (HIPS) is a type of polystyrene
in which polybutadiene is added during polymerization. Polybutadiene is commonly known as rubber to
give toughness and impact resistance of the polymeric materials.
2. Experiment
2.1. Materials
Sugar palm fibres (Arenga pinnata) were obtained from Aceh, Indonesia. The fibres were ground and
sieved into short size of 30-50 mesh. Six fibre contents of 0, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50% by weight were
studied in this study. The high impact polystyrene (HIPS) used as the polymer matrix was Idemitsu PS
HT 50 having a density of 1.04 g/cm
3
and was supplied by Petrochemical (M) Sdn Bhd, Pasir Gudang,
Johor, Malaysia.
2.2. Preparation of composites
Compounding of short sugar palm fibre (SPF) and HIPS matrix was carried out using a melt mixer
(Brabender Plasticorder intensive mixer model PL2000-6). The mixing temperature and screw speed were
set at 165 C and 50 rpm respectively. HIPS was charged into the chamber and melted (3 min) before
dried short SPF were added. The mixing process of short SPF and HIPS took place for about 15 min.
2.3. Compression moulding
The melt-compounded mixture obtained from the previous process was placed in the compression
mould (Carver hot press) heated at a temperature of 165 C and endured the process of preheating for
5 min. Heating was carried out for 5 min followed by cooling for further 5 min. The specimens for the
mechanical tests were obtained from these sheets of composites.
2.4. Tensile testing
All tensile test specimens were cut into dogbone shape. The tests were conducted following the ASTM
D638 type V using Instron universal testing machine (model 5569). A load cell of 1 kN and a crosshead
speed of 2 mm/min were used in these tests. For each type of composites, six specimens were tested to
failure and were used in calculating the average tensile value.
103 S.M. Sapuan and D. Bachtiar / Procedia Chemistry 4 ( 2012 ) 101 106
2.5. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
Scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipment was then used to assess the surface morphology of
fibres and dispersion of fibres in the matrix. The microscopic analysis was important in characterising the
level of composites fracture mechanism after subjected to tensile load testing. The interfacial bonding
between the fibre and the matrix was also examined by this analysis. The samples were coated with a thin
layer of gold using the sputter in order to produce the contrast image on the SEM machine from Hitachi
Company Japan S-3400N model, equipped with special software and operated at 5.0 keV.
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. Tensile strength
Figure 1 shows the average values of tensile strengths of various short SPF-HIPS composites tested in
this study. The mechanical properties of short SPF-reinforced high impact polystyrene composites were
studied and in composites there was a complex interplay of the properties of the constituent phases such
as matrix, fibre and interfacial region between the fibre and matrix.

Fig. 1. Tensile strength of SPF-HIPS composites for different fibre loadings
The addition of 10 to 30% by weight of short SPF has slightly decreased the tensile strength of short
SPF-HIPS composites compared to neat HIPS (0% loading). It can be seen that for the composite with
30% fibre content, the average tensile strength was 19.3 MPa; it is lower by just approximately 35.5%
from that of neat HIPS. Similar results have been found by Antich et al. [11] where the addition of short
sisal fibres from 5 to 25% by weight in HIPS decreased the tensile strength values. The addition of
maximum fibre content of 25% decreased the tensile strength by about 46% compared to that of neat
HIPS. They concluded that the decrease of tensile strength values resulted from the weak fibre-matrix
interface as a result of differing polarities of the hydrophilic sisal fibres and hydrophobic HIPS matrix.
However, in the current study, it is noticed in Figure 1 that the increase in fibre loadings from 40 to 50%
has increased the tensile strength of the composites. This may indicate the possibility that the fibres have
better dispersion and greater interaction in the HIPS matrix resulting in good bonding between fibre and
matrix.
104 S.M. Sapuan and D. Bachtiar / Procedia Chemistry 4 ( 2012 ) 101 106
3.2. Tensile modulus
Figure 2 presents the tensile modulus of the short SPF-HIPS composites at different fibre loadings. The
significant improvement in the tensile moduli of short SPF-HIPS composites was observed with the
increase of fibre contents. It can be seen that the maximum value of tensile modulus was 1706 MPa at
fibre content of 30 wt%. But, the addition of 40 to 50% by weight of short SPF has decreased the tensile
modulus slightly. Usually, the decrease of tensile moduli was due to the decrease of bond quality between
the fibres and matrix. For this case, generally, the decrease in tensile moduli was not very significant,
Figure 2, it is still acceptable to claim that the addition of sugar palm fibre up to 50% in HIPS matrix
increases the stiffness of the composites. At high fibre contents, it was more difficult to obtain good
consolidation of the composites during fabrication process thus reducing the extent of fibre wetting. The
quality of interfacial bonding is determined by several factors such as the nature of the fibre and the
polymer components, the fibre aspect ratio, fibre contents, the processing procedure and the treatment of
the polymer or the fibres [12].

Fig. 2. Tensile modulus of SPF-HIPS composites for different fibre loadings
3.3. Scanning electron microscopy analysis
The test specimens were also analysed using a SEM in order to help explain the results of the
tensile strength and modulus of short SPF-HIPS composites. SEM examines the tensile fractured surface
of SPF-HIPS composites. SEM micrographs of the fracture surfaces of composites at 10 and 20% of SPF
are shown in Figures 3a and b, respectively. It can be seen that at lower fibre loadings the fibres dispersed
in non-uniform manner. Fibres were disoriented and most of SPF fibres underwent agglomeration. In
addition, fibre pull-out mode was also dominant. These entire modes contributed to the weak tensile
strength of the composites at lower fibre loadings.
Figures 3c and d depicts the fractured surfaces of composites at 30 and 40% of SPF, respectively. The
feature of fractured surface at 30% of SPF also shows the fibre breakage and fibre pull-out modes. Then,
fractured surface at 40% of SPF shows the compact arrangement of the fibres. Similar situation is also
observed in Figure 3e for the fractured surface at 50% of SPF. It explains the reason for the enhancement
of strength at higher fibre loadings.
105 S.M. Sapuan and D. Bachtiar / Procedia Chemistry 4 ( 2012 ) 101 106

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

Fig. 3. The fractured surfaces of SPF/HIPS composites after tensile testing for: (a) 10%; (b) 20%; (c) 30%; (d) 40% and (e) 50%
SPF loading
4. Conclusion
The aim of this study was to determine the tensile properties of short sugar palm fibre reinforced high
impact polystyrene composites. It is concluded that the increase in fibre the loading on HIPS matrix
enhanced the tensile modulus of the composites. However, tensile strength decreased with the increase in
fibre loading due to poor compatibility of interface between fibre and polymer surfaces. It can be
improved with the introduction of surface treatment on the fibres.
Acknowledgement
The authors wish to thank Universiti Putra Malaysia and Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-Based
Industry, Malaysia for providing research grant ScienceFund project number: 05-01-04-SF1114. Many
thanks are also due to the staff of Malaysian Nuclear Agency (MNA), Selangor, Malaysia for their support
in carrying out this research.
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