Possibility of using waste tire composites reinforced with oil palm frond as construction materials

摘要

Today,Malaysia is one of the largest countries planting palm tree worldwide.During the lifespan of this tree, there is abundance of fronds being trimmed and left there to biodegrade them by the nature which can affect the environment and the tree.Along with that,there is another waste produced result from the growth in technologies and transportation industries which is waste rubber tires.It seems that both wastes have limited application in industry nowadays. Therefore,this research proposed is to make use of both wastes to produce something worth which is a composite use for producing particle boards for construction purposes. The production methods used are fiber surface treatment with alkali solution and composite preparation using Hot and Cold Molding Press. The characteristics and properties of the particle board from palm fronds-rubber tires and palm fronds alone are studied and compared using Universal Testing Machine (UTM).It can be said that the particleboard produced have comparable characteristics and properties especially its flexibility and flexural properties.