Kenaf fiber nonwoven composites as automotive interior material: Mechanical, thermal, and acoustical performance

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

7-23-2012

Abstract

With an industrial trend of going green, the use of natural fibers in polymer composites is growing rapidly, especially in the automotive industry. The objectives of this research are to investigate the processability of kenaf fibers in making nonwoven composites for automotive interior parts and to explore the composite end-use performance in terms of physical structure, mechanical properties, thermal stability, and acoustical behavior. The kenaf/polypropylene(KF/PP) composites were fabricated with 50/50 blend ratio by weight. All nonwovens were produced by carding and needle-punching techniques and thermally bonded by a panel press. The tensile, three-point bending and in-plane shearing tests were performed to evaluate the composite mechanical properties. Based on the mechanical tests, the optimum processing conditions were determined. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) was used to measure the thermal-mechanical properties of composites. The sound absorption and sound insulation performance was evaluated. The correlation between mechanical properties and acoustical behavior was also verified by the panel resonance theory.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

International SAMPE Technical Conference

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS