Md Ashraful Alam ¹, Khalid Alriyami ¹, Mohd Zamin Jumaat ², Zakaria Che Muda ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Civil Engineering, University Tenage Nasional, Selangor, MY
2 Department of Civil Engineering, University of Malaya, MY

Abstract

The potential application of green fibre based composite plate in retrofitting of structure is growing up in construction industry nowadays. The aim of this research was to develop high strength natural fibre based composite plates for the possible application in strengthening of reinforced concrete structure. The plates were fabricated using kenaf fibre, jute fibre and jute rope respectively. The fibres and rope were chemically treated using 6% NaOH solution to enhance the tensile strength of fabricated plates. In fabrication process, a special technique was applied to compact the treated and untreated fibres to obtain the highest tensile strength of composite plates. The physical and mechanical properties of the fabricated composite plates were then experimentally investigated. In general, results showed that the chemical treatments had an influence to enhance the tensile strength of the plates. The tensile strength of composite plates with treated kenaf fibre, jute fibre and jute rope were 137 MPa, 136 MPa and 113 MPa respectively. While those of untreated kenaf fibre, jute fibre and jute ropes were 131 MPa, 136 MPa and 110 MPa respectively. Kenaf and jute fibre composite plates had shown higher tensile strengths as compared to those of jute rope. The natural fibre composite plates were found to be linearly elastic in nature and had shown brittle failure. The moisture content and the water absorption of the plates with treated fibres were found to be lower as compared to those of untreated fibres. In terms of tensile strength of fabricated plates, kenaf, jute and jute rope composite plates could be used in retrofitting of structures.

Keywords

Alkali, Jute Fibre, Jute Rope Fibre, Kenaf Fibre, Natural Fibre Composite

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Md Ashraful Alam ¹, Khalid Alriyami ², Zakaria Che Muda ², Mohd Zamin Jumaat ³

Affiliations
1 Department of Civil Engineering, Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Malaysia, MY
2 Department of Civil Engineering, Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Malaysia
3 Department of Civil Engineering, Universiti of Malaya, Malaysia

Abstract

This paper presents the finding of an experimental study on kenaf fibre hybrid composite plates for potential application in shear strengthening of RC beam. In the experimental programme, hybrid composite plates had been fabricated using kenaf and carbon fibres with five different mixes i.e., 47% kenaf with 0% carbon; 45% kenaf with 2.5% carbon; 47% kenaf with 5% carbon; 45% kenaf with 7.5% carbon and 45% kenaf with 10% carbon. The physical and mechanical properties of the fabricated hybrid composite plates were then experimentally investigated. Results showed that carbon contents had an influence to enhance the tensile strength of the plates. Hybrid composite plate with 10% carbon content had shown 130% higher tensile strength as compared to that of plate without carbon fibre. The carbon content also had enhanced the modulus of elasticity of plates. Higher percentage of carbon had shown higher tensile strength and modulus of elasticity of hybrid composite plates. All fabricated plates had linear elastic properties under tension. The density of plates increased with the increasing of carbon content in composite plates. The research findings indicated that the developed hybrid composite kenaf could be used for shear strengthening of reinforced concrete beam.

Keywords

Carbon Fibre, Epoxy, Hybrid Composite, Kenaf, RC Structure, Shear Strengthening

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