Kenaf bast fiber-reinforced polypropylene (PP) film laminates were fabricated to evaluate thermal and mechanical properties. This experiment was also designed to evaluate fiber orientation and furnish formulation effect on the properties of the kenaf and PP film laminates. The effects were evaluated by dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), differential scanning calo-rimetry (DSC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and tensile strength of laminates. The uniaxial fiber orientation provided better property performance on the storage modulus (E') of the laminates than randomly oriented kenaf fibers in the laminates. Thermal properties obtained from DSC showed that the melting point (TM) was decreased and crystallization peak was increased with an increased weight fraction of kenaf fibers in the laminates. Morphology of the kenaf fiber surface and fractural surface of the laminates was examined, and it showed interfacial failure between the fiber surface and the matrix materials. Some of the fibers pulled out from the matrix. The tensile strength properties were increased with an increased weight fraction of kenaf fibers and number of fibers in the failure surface. The unidirectional fiber orientation provided about 60 to 95 percent better mean of property enhancement over the randomly oriented samples.
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