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Corn husk Fibers Reinforced Polyester Composites: Tensile Strength

Properties, Water Absorption Behavior, and Morphology
To cite this article: N H Sari and S Suteja 2020 IOP Conf. Ser.: Mater. Sci. Eng. 722 012035

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ICET4SD IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 722 (2020) 012035 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/722/1/012035

Corn husk Fibers Reinforced Polyester Composites: Tensile

Strength Properties, Water Absorption Behavior, and
Morphology

N H Sari1, S Suteja2
1,2
Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, University of
Mataram, Mataram, Indonesia

Corresponding author e–mail: n.herlinasari@unram.ac.id

Abstract. The effects of fiber content and immersion time in the water on the tensile,
morphology and water absorption properties of composites made from corn husk
fiber/polyester have been studied. Composite made with a variety of different fiber contents
namely: 20%, 25%, 30%, 40%, 50% and 60% respectively. All composite specimens were
immersed in water for 24 h and 72 h. The effects of fiber content and time of immersion of
composites in water have been determined by examining the nature of tensile strength, water
absorption behavior, morphology. The results demonstrated that after soaked in water for 24 h
and 72 h, the water absorption properties of the composites increased with increasing fiber
content. The tensile strength and modulus of elasticity of composites tend to increase from
20% to 30% fiber content after immersed for 24 h, and then decrease with increasing fiber and
soaking time because the interface between fiber and polyester becomes weak. These results
suggest that corn husk fiber composites could have the potential to use as decking, siding, and
exterior windows.

1. Introduction
Composites made from natural fibers and thermoset resins are increasingly developing in the polymer
industry, specifically as a substitute for wood for outdoor products under wet environments. The
advantages of hydrophobic resins have been to protect natural fibers and increase the durability of the
final product; therefore they are successfully used in structures such as decking, docks, and exterior
windows, etc [1] that are directly in contact with water.
Although natural fiber composites are widely used in many industries, long–term performance and
durability are still not comprehensively understood. The fibers and adhesives are inevitable from
changes and hostile environmental conditions. Water diffusion in composites and polymer adhesives is
considered as one of the main reliability problems for the performance of composites.
Composites made from corn fiber are increasingly interesting to study and their properties still
need to be developed. Some researchers have reported the best properties of corn husk fiber
composites (CHF) with a polymer matrix. CHF composites with polyester matrices have a sound
absorption coefficient of 0.8–0.9 at a frequency of 2 kHz. They also reported the tensile and Young’s
moduli of CHF composites around 18.81 MPa–25.73 MPa [2]. The ability to absorb sound from CHF-
polypropylene composites is superior to jute–polypropylene [3]. Cornhusk fiber plastic composites
had the highest flexural and tensile strengths of 46.10 MPa and 26.58 MPa respectively [4]. 5% CHF
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IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 722 (2020) 012035 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/722/1/012035

composites showed deformability than 0%–8% CHF with low methoxy pectin (LMP) films [5]. From
this previous study, it was agreed that other properties associated with corn husk fiber composites are
still very limited.
As materials to be applied to a structure under a wet environment, the absorbed moisture will cause
changes in the polymer microstructure, and degradation in their mechanical, thermo-physical, and
chemical characteristics [6–8, 2]. The effect of moisture or water exposition on mechanical,
morphology, and water absorption of composites is very important to be studied and to explain the
performance of composites in wet environments.
Therefore, this study aims to explore the properties of corn husk fiber composites in water
immersion. The effects of the CHF content on water absorption behaviour, tensile strength properties,
and morphology were investigated.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Materials.
Cornhusk has been obtained from the Pagesangan market, Mataram, Indonesia (see in Fig 1a). Corn
husk selected on the outside; to maintain uniformity. The average length and width of corn husk is
13.5 cm–15.2 cm. The polyester resin (PE) has a density of 1.2 g/cm3, the tensile strength and a tensile
modulus of 8.8 kg/mm2 and 500 kg/mm2, respectively, and elongation of 2.3%.

2.2. Extraction of fibers

They are immersed in fresh water for 10 days to undergo decay (Fig. 1b). The fibers were taken using
a wooden comb with teeth diameter of 0.02 mm; to maintain fiber uniformity, and dried under the
sun's heat (Fig. 1c).

Figure 1. Material preparation, a. Corn husk, b. Extration of CHFs, and c. CHF raw.

2.3. Alkaly treatment of fibers

The prepared CHFs were immersed in NaOH 8% for 2 h (Fig. 2a). They are washed and rinsed with
fresh water and repeated three times, and then followed by drying under the sun (Fig. 2b), then dry
CHFs (Fig. 2c) are stored in a platics storage box.

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IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 722 (2020) 012035 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/722/1/012035

Figure 2. Alkaly treatment process, a. CHFs immersion in NaOH8% for 2 h, b. The

drying process of CHFs, and c. CHFs after alkaly treatment.

2.4. Preparation of composites

CHF with a fiber length of 4 cm was prepared. A mixture of polyester and catalyst is poured into a
mold that filled CHFs with different volume fraction (see in Table 1). Then the mold is closed and
pressed at 5MPa for 4 min (temperature 175oC), followed by cooling at ambient temperature. The
composite is removed from the mold and ready for testing.

Table 1. Composition of CHF and polyester of different composites

Code of specimens Corn husk fibers Polyester
(% vol) (% vol)
NC20 20 80
NC25 25 75
NC30 30 70
NC40 40 60
NC50 50 50
NC60 60 40

All of the test specimens are given the carrying out by soaking them in water for 24 h and 72 h. They
are lifted and wiped using blotting paper. In total there were 54 test specimens with repetition 3 times
for each test parameter tests.

2.5. Characterization

2.5.1. Water absorption and Swelling tests. Water absorption tests have been measured according to
the international standard ASTMD570 [9]. The water absorption (WA) was calculated using
expression 1 [10]:
(N1 − N 2 )
WA,% = x100 (1)
N1
Where, N1 and N2 show the dry weight (g), and the weight after time t (g).

Measurement of the percentage swellability evaluated using equation 2 [8]:

Swellability,% =
(x − y ) x100 (2)
y
Where, x and y are composite volumes after and before immersion.

2.5.2. Tensile strength test. The specimen prepared was according to ASTMD3039 standard [11] used
a Tensilon RTG–1310 that operated at a speed and load cell of of 5 mm/min and 5 kN respectively.

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IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 722 (2020) 012035 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/722/1/012035

2.5.3. Flexural test. The CHF composites were conducted by the three–point bending method on a
UTM and follow ASTMD790 standards [12]

2.5.4. Scanning electronic microscopy, SEM. In this test, the fracture surfaces of the specimen were
characterized by SEM Inspect–S50type at 18mA and 10 kV.

3. Results and Discussion

3.1. Water absorption and swelling analysis

The water absorption capacity of composite as display in Fig. 3. The nature of water uptake increases
with an increasing amount of fiber content and immersion time of the composite. During 24 h – 72 h
period, the polyester resin demonstrated negligible water uptake and the CHF induced significant
water uptake. Maximum water uptake is obtained from polyester composites with a volume fraction of
60% CHF (NC60) of 5.62% at 72 h immersion.

Figure 3. Water absorption of corn husk fiber/polyester composites.

A possible reason for this behavior might be because CHF shows tendency to absorb water higher
than polyester (hydrophobic). The presence of lumens, defects, fissures at the interface, hydrogen
bonds in fibers, and micro crevices in the matrix can cause the composite to absorb water [13,14].
Hence, the water uptake increases with more CHFs content.
Conversely, composites with low CHF content have better interface adhesion which reduces the
interface width between fibers and reduces water uptake through this part to the interior of the
composite [15]. It was noted that fiber adhesion/strong interface can help reduce water hygroscopicity,
reduce penetration, hence avoiding deterioration in the mechanical performance of composites [16–
18]. This also answers the reason why the ability to absorb water from NC20 is lower than other
samples. This result has been confirmed by mechanical test results.
Typical swelling data for all composites displayed in Fig. 4, which shows that CHF/polyester
swelling increases with increased water absorption, and thus the rate of swelling changes increases
with immersion time. The effect of CHF on the polyester ratio on swelling thickness can also be
explained by the difference in water uptake between CHF- polyester (see discussion on composite
water absorption). Thickness swelling is affected by water uptake and change due to the same
mechanism as water uptake.

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IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 722 (2020) 012035 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/722/1/012035

Figure 4. Swelling of polyester/corn husk fiber composites.

3.2. Tensile strength analysis

From Fig. 5a shows that the strength of composites with a 20 – 30% fo fiber content (NC20, NC25,
and NC30) at the 24 h immersion stage tends to increase due to the strong bonding interface between
polyester and CHF, and after being soaked in water for 72 h, the strength of the composite tends to
decrease with the increasing number of CHFs. This is indicated that the amount of water absorbed in
the composite has caused the interface bond between CHF and resin to be quite weak; as a result, the
tensile and modulus of elasticity (MOE) of the composite tend to decrease with longer immersion
time. A sharp decrease in tensile strength and Young’s modulus values was also seen in composites
with 40 – 60% fiber content (see NC40, NC50, and NC60 specimens). This drastic decrease is
indicated that when CHFs content was increased, the matrix is no longer evenly distributed and many
CHFs overlap one another, resulting in bad bond at the interface, causing the composite strength to be
small. The same tendency behaviour is also found in the modulus of elasticity of the composite (Fig.
5b). The Young’s moduli demonstrated a gradual increase, its value increased up to 30% CHF content
then decreased; it is attributed to the flow of polyester which increased the bond strength and the
composite strength.
Furthermore, the NC20, NC25, and NC30 composites have increasing strain values (seen in Fig.
5c), this means that there is an opposite response to the large tensile load received, which is indicated
by the effect of internal shifts at the atomic level in the composite material so that the composite
increases in length thus the strain produced to be high. Conversely, the low strain value is due to the
opposite response given by the composite to the small tensile load received.

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IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 722 (2020) 012035 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/722/1/012035

(a)

(b). (c)
Figure 5. a. Strength, b. Young’s moduli, and elongation of tensile of corn husk fiber/polyester
composite

3.3. Flexural strength analysis

Fig. 6 shows the flexural strength of the composite which tends to be the same as the tensile strength.
From Fig. 6 it is known that the average flexural strength value of the composite after immersed in
water for 24 h varies from 36.495 MPa to 35.650 MPa, and after immersed for 72 h the flexural
strength varies from 30.301 MPa to 32.370 MPa. The flexural strength trend is seen to increase with
increasing CHF content from 20% to 25%, and subsequently decreasing. Maximum flexural strength
is obtained in the composite after soaking 24 h with 25% fiber content and 75% PE resin of 42.739
MPa. The detected increase in term of tensile and bending behaviour was related to interfacial bonding
between the CHF-polyester, and the modification of single corn husk fibers. After 72 h of soaking, the
flexural strength of the composite is known to decrease. For example, NC25 with a 25% fiber content
have a higher flexural strength value (42.194 MPa) when compared to NC50 specimen which have a
flexural strength of only around 36.192 MPa. This decrease was maybe due to the higher level of
brittleness of the incorporation of CHF into the PE.

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IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 722 (2020) 012035 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/722/1/012035

Figure 6. Flexural strength of CHF/polyester composites cornhusk

fiber composites.

3.4. SEM
Morphology of the fractured surface of specimen composite in tensile is shown in Figs. 7 and 8. After
immersed for 24 h (seen in Figs 7a, 7b, and 7c), it was observed that the composite display the
interfacial bonding between the CHFs – PE was high and strong. Localized bunch of CHFs is shown,
which indicates the good dispersion of CHFs within the polyester, and the fracture occurred at the
CHFs itself. This shows that the stress was well propagated between CHFs–polyester, resulting in
enhanced flexural and tensile strength in response to stress. The composite with higher fibers content
(seen in Figs. 7d–f) appears to be dominated by fibers breakage. The interfacial fracture accompanied
by cross–section damage of the CHFs, resulting in decreased tensile strength.
Figs. 8a, 8b, and 8c shows a crack running through the CHF, and this an indication of the lack of
stress–transfer from polyester to CHFs. Figs 8d, 8e, and 8f, it was found that composite had a damage
area interface between CHF and PE is loose. The interfacial fracture is demonstrated by CHF cross–
section damage, resulting in decreased tensile, and flexural strength.

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IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 722 (2020) 012035 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/722/1/012035

Figure 7. SEM photos, (a) NC20, (b). NC25, c. NC 30, d. NC40, e. NC50, and f. NC60
after water immersed for 24 h.

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Figure 8. SEM images, (a) NC20, (b). NC 25, c. NC 30, d. NC40, e. NC50, and f. NC60
after water immersed for 72 h.

4. Conclusion
An experimental investigation of the behavior of tensile strength, morphology and water absorption
from CHF–based composites under the water environment was carried out. The water uptake and
swelling properties of the composites increase with an increasing amount of fiber content and soaking
time. Consequently, the tensile and bending strength of the composite to decreased. The maximum
tensile strength, and young’s moduly are obtained from composites with 30% fiber content (NC30)
after 24 h water immersed, and then decreases. SEM images display the interfacial fracture
accompanied by cross–section damage of the CHFs. Composites based CHF are suitable as an
alternative material for decking, siding, exterior windows, and doors.

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IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 722 (2020) 012035 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/722/1/012035

Acknowledgments
Authors would like to thank the Directorate General of Strengthening Research and Development,
Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education, Republic of Indonesia for the research
financial support under the research scheme of fundamental research of National competitive. Contract
number: 182/SP2H/LT/DRPM/2019).

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