Abstract :
Material development innovation requires the existence of a material that
not only has high mechanical strength but also has a light mass. Natural fibers as
composite material have several advantages including abundant availability,
relatively affordable manufacturing cost, and environmental friendliness. The
author will conduct further research on the use of pandan thorn leaf fiber
(pandanus tectorius) as a composite reinforcement in bending strength. The more
the specimen has a high compressive strength value, the better the quality of the
specimen which can later be applied to car interior, namely seat back.
The purpose of this study was to determine the value of the bending strength
of polyester composites reinforced with pandan thorn leaf fiber using the hand lay?up method. The materials used are pandan thorn leaf fiber and a matrix of polyester
bqtn 157 and a catalyst. Arrangement of fiber orientation 0º length 200 mm
variation of mass fraction 0%, 5%, 10%, and 15%. The bending strength specimen
refers to the ASTM D790-03 standard and then the fracture from the bending test
results will be observed by SEM. The results of the research on pandan thorn leaf
fiber reinforced polyester composites had the highest bending strength at 0% fiber
mass fraction, which was 77.14 MPa, while the lowest bending strength was up to
a fiber ratio of 10% to 90% polyester, which was 44.21 MPa. Composite polyester
reinforced with pandan thorn leaf fiber comporated to the product FlexForm has
met the minimum standard for application to the seat back material.