Compressive Elastic Modulus of Natural Fiber Based Binary Composites

The composites made of bamboo apus fiber - epoxy resin and charcoal - tapioca starch with several compositions have been synthesized. Bamboo fiber powder as the rest of cutting process was refined and filtered by mesh 40 before used. Epoxy resin 1021A and hardener 1021B has been used as resin. The synthesis of epoxy resin-based composites was carried out via simple mixing method by adding adequate 70% ethanol solution before drying. The 100 mesh-filtered dry charcoal was mixed with tapioca mixture before it was pressed and dried to produce briquette composites. To study the compressive elastic modulus of the composites, pressure tests using Mark 10 Pressure Test Machine have been carried out. It was found that all the composites show maximum compressive elastic modulus at certain component compositions. The maximum elastic modulus for bamboo fiber-epoxy resin, charcoal - epoxy resin and charcoal-tapioca starch were observed at 52.9 %, 56.3 %, and 25.0 % of mass fraction of bamboo fiber, charcoal and tapioca starch, respectively.