Decision Support Strategy in Selecting Natural Fiber Materials for Automotive Side-Door Impact Beam Composites

The enforcement on sustainable design and environmental-friendly products has attracted the interest of researchers and engineers in the context of replacing metals and synthetic fibers with natural based fibers,especially in the automotive industry.However,studies on sustainable natural fiber material selection in the automotive industry are limited.Evaluation for the side-door impact beam was conducted by gathering product design specification from literature which amounted to seven criteria and it was forwarded to ten decision makers with automotive engineering and product design background for evaluation.The weightage required for decision-making was obtained using the Analytic Hierarchy Process(AHP)method based on six criteria.Following this,the best natural fiber materials to be used as reinforcement in polymer composites were selected using the VIseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje(VIKOR)method.The results using both the AHP and VIKOR method showed that kenaf was the best natural fiber for the side-door impact beam composites.The result showed the lowest VIKOR value,QA1=0.0000,which was determined to be within the acceptable advantage and acceptable stability conditions.It can be concluded that the application of integrated AHP-VIKOR method resulted in a systematic and justified solution towards the decision-making process.

Effect of Fibre Size on Mechanical Properties and Surface Roughness of PLA Composites by Using Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM)

Naturalfibre as a reinforcing agent has been widely used in many industrial applications.Nevertheless,several factors need to be considered,such as the size and weight percentage of thefibre used in binding.Using fused deposition modelling(FDM),this factor was investigated by varying the size of naturalfibre as the responding variable with afixed weight percentage of kenaffibre.The process of modifying the naturalfibre in terms of size might increase the dispersion of kenaffibre in the polymer matrix and increase the adhesion bonding between thefibre and matrix of composites,subsequently improving the interfacial bonding between these two phases.In this paper,the effect offibre size was evaluated by performing the mechanical test,Scanning Electron Micrograph(SEM)to observe the morphology of the composites,and also by surface analysis.The surface roughness was visualised using a 3D profilometer and thefigure was illustrated as colour shading in the image.The composite withfibre size≤100μm displayed better tensile andflexural strength,compared to other sizes.In conclusion,by reducing the size of thefibre,the composites could develop high strength performance for industrial applications.

Conceptual Design of Natural Fiber Composites as a Side-Door Impact Beam Using Hybrid Approach

This paper presents the conceptual design stage in the product development process of a natural fiber composites of the side-door impact beam,which starts from idea generation to the selection of the best design concept.This paper also demonstrates the use of the integrated Theory of Inventive Problem Solving(Function-Oriented Search)(TRIZ(FOS))and Biomimetics method,as well as the VIseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje(VIKOR)method.The aim of this study was to generate design concepts that were inspired by nature and to select the best design concept for the composite side-door impact beam.Subsequently,eight design concepts were generated using the TRIZ(FOS)-Biomimetics method and finite element analysis were used to analyse their performance and weight criteria using ANSYS software.VIKOR method was used as the multiple criteria decision making tools to compare their performances,weight and cost criteria.As a result,design concepts B-03 and C-02 were ranked as the first and second best,with VIKOR value of 0.0156 and 0.1178,respectively,which satisfied the conditions in VIKOR method.This paper shows that the integrated method of TRIZ(FOS)-Biomimetics and VIKOR can assist researchers and engineers in developing designs that are inspired by nature,as well as in selecting the best design concept using a systematic strategy and justified solutions during the conceptual design stage.

Acoustic Properties of Micro-Perforated Panels Made from Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch Fiber Reinforced Polylactic Acid

This paper presents the development and performance of micro-perforated panels(MPP)from natural fiber reinforced composites.The MPP is made of Polylactic Acid(PLA)reinforced with Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch Fiber(OPEFBF).The investigation was made by varying the fiber density,air gap,and perforation ratio to observe the effect on the Sound Absorption Coefficient(SAC)through the experiment in an impedance tube.It is found that the peak level of SAC is not affected,but the peak frequency shifts to lower frequency when the fiber density is increased.This phenomenon might be due to the presence of porosity in the inner wall of the holes.Increasing or decreasing the air gap and perforation ratio shifts the peaks of acoustic absorption either way.

Alkali and Silane Treatments towards Exemplary Mechanical Properties of Kenaf and Pineapple Leaf Fibre-reinforced Composites

Following the contemporary research trend of exploring the potential of eco-friendly natural fibres,this work studies the effects of alkali and silane treatments,with varying concentrations,on the mechanical characterization of composites reinforced with kenaf and pineapple leaf fibre(PALF).Kenaf-and PALF-based composites were fabricated through the heat compression method.Their mechanical characterization was then performed to evaluate the tensile,flexural and impact properties.The findings concluded that chemical treatments indeed enhanced the mechanical properties of composite materials.5%NaOH and 3%silane treatments can respectively provide the optimum mechanical properties to the kenaf fibre and PALF reinforced composites.Chemical treatment results evidenced that silane-treated composites exhibit higher mechanical properties compared to the NaOH-treated composites.When comparing the mechanical properties of kenaf-and PALF-reinforced polypropylene composites,the overall results show that composites based on PALF have superior mechanical properties.

Influence of contact pressure and sliding speed dependence on the tribological characteristics of an activated carbonepoxy composite derived from palm kernel under dry sliding conditions

The objective of this work is to investigate the influence of contact pressure and sliding speed on the coefficient of friction and wear of an activated carbon-epoxy composite derived from palm kernel under dry sliding conditions.A wear mode map approach was employed to identify the transitions from mild to severe wear of the composite.The dry sliding test was executed by utilizing a ball-on-disc tribometer at different contact pressures and sliding speeds with a constant sliding distance and operating temperature.The results showed that,regardless of the sliding speed,the friction coefficient and wear rate of the composite increased drastically when a critical limit of contact pressure is exceeded.As for the sliding speed,both the friction coefficient and wear rate increased first and thereafter decreased at a higher speed of 500 rpm.A wear mode map is proposed to classify the boundary from mild to severe wear regimes.The predominant wear failures identified include micro-crack,fine grooves,debonding,delamination,debris,broken carbon,and fracture.