Determination of tensile properties and moisture effect of areca leaf sheath subjected to flattening process

• Auteur principal: Jong, Oi Ka
• Format: Dissertation
• Langue: anglais; anglais; anglais
• Publié: 2021
• Sujets: T Technology (General); TA401-492 Materials of engineering and construction. Mechanics of materials
• Accès en ligne: http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/6498/

Areca leaf sheaths (ALS) have been utilized widely to make sustainable disposable dining wares. However, ALS could be damaged during the storage period, due to stacking weight acting on its concaved structure. Besides, there is little understanding about the effect of moisture content (MC) on mechanical properties of ALS, which is crucial for the heat pressing process to produce good quality products. This research aimed to investigate the tensile properties of ALS under the effect of flattening process and MC. In addition, the ALS fiber is characterized (morphology and chemical composition). The effect of flattening process parameters and soaking time (to manipulate MC) on tensile properties of ALS were studied by conducting Design of Experiment (DOE) of tensile tests. Results from the tensile tests were analyzed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) techniques on Minitab 18 statistical analysis software. It is found that the ALS fiber is a type of short fiber (1.77 mm). Meanwhile, the chemical composition of ALS reports a lower α-cellulose content (30.30%), but a high lignin content (14.40%) which explains its high rigidity. Next, the flattening process at 5 bar pressure yielded the highest ultimate tensile strength (UTS) (31.858 MPa) for ALS in grain direction, and the highest elongation at break (EB) (41.576%) in transverse direction. Subsequently, in DOE 2, MC has found to be affecting the tensile properties of ALS significantly below the fiber saturation point. Below this point, the UTS of ALS decreases, and the EB increases as the soaking time increases correspondingly. In conclusion, the tensile behaviors of ALS under flattening and soaking processes are investigated together with its chemical properties and fiber morphology. This study is important to serve as a process guideline for the production of disposable dining wares.