DefinePK

Abstract

Waste cooking oil (WCO) comprises polyethylene terephthalate (PET) compounds, which can be converted to polyol and utilized as a raw material for production of polyurethane (PU). The PU foam composite was made by compounding WCO as polyol source, toluene diisocyanate and utilized sugar palm fiber with different fiber loading : 10, 20, 30 and 40 (%w) at ambient temperature and stirred rapidly for 1 minute. This study aims to evaluate the effect of sugar palm fiber loading on the characteristics of PU foam composite, include tensile strength, elongation at break, modulus of elasticity, impact strength, water absorption, fracture morphology analysis through SEM and functional group analysis through FTIR. Result showed that the fibre loading are greatly influenced the mechanical properties of PU foam composite as indicated by the good adhesion between fibre and matrix on the fracture morphology through SEM analysis with the maximum value of obtained at 30% fiber loading. Fibre loading also caused an increase in the water absorption properties of PU foam composite. This is due to the hydrophilic nature of the fibers with the presence of hydroxyl groups, which can react with water molecules, as opposed to the hydrophobic nature of the PU matrix.