Effect of Reinforced Hybrid Palm Shells on Mechanical Properties of Polyurethane-Jute Woven/ Vinyl Ester Sandwich Board

A natural fiber sandwich was constructed from palm shells/polyurethane core and jute woven/vinyl ester face sheets by the in-situ sandwich process (core and panel prepared simultaneously). The polyurethane sandwich core was reinforced by hybrid shell systems of dried palm shell (DPS) and palm kernel shell (PKS) (50P-50D, 25P-75D), and single shell system of PKS (100P) as well as 20 phr empty fruit bunch (EFB) based on hundred part of polyurethane. The sandwich face sheets are prepared by using two jute woven layers and impregnated by vinyl ester. Interlocking between DPS and polyurethane matrix was formed, which hence enhanced the mechanical properties. The interfacial adhesion between DPS, PKS, and EFB with the polyurethane binder played the important role to achieve high mechanical properties. It was found that hybrid shells exhibited high reinforcement for sandwich's performance resulting better compression (50P-50D) and flexural (25P-75D) properties. The single shell 100P showed only improvement on flexural modulus.The fracture surface morphology of sandwich under mechanical test was performed by using optical microscopy. (author)