Analisis Pengaruh Konsentrasi Natrium Hidroksida terhadap Sifat Mekanik Biokomposit Berpenguat Serat Sisal

The mechanical properties of natural fibers are continuous development as the alternatively synthetic fibers because of the natural fibers are non-corrosive, lightweight, and environmental advantages. However, these fibers have poor interfacial adhesion properties as the fibers if used as bio-composite material. This problem can be solved by the surface modification method by the sodium hydroxide treatment used to improve the mechanical properties. A sodium hydroxide concentration which it used at 0 wt%, 5 wt%, 10 wt%, and 15 wt% and the sisal fibers were soaked in that a concentration for 2 hours. Furthermore, the bio-composite fabrication is conducted by hand lay-up technique which is using both sisals as the fibers and epoxy resin as the matrix. The tensile test RTG-1250 results show that the maximum mechanical properties, such as strains, Young's modulus, and elongation, was obtained at sodium hydroxide 5 wt% than others where the values of these mechanical properties were 25.334 MPa, 16.111 GPa, and 1.572%, respectively. The morphological evaluation carried out using a scanning electron microscope showed that the alkali sodium hydroxide treatment was improved interfacial adhesion between fiber and matrix. Finally, sodium hydroxide alkali treatment of more than 5% can be able to sisal fiber cracks so that the mechanical properties of bio-composite can decrease continuously.