Mechanical Properties for Composites with Dammar Resin Reinforced with Crushed Corn Cob

Abstract

The study focused on the potential use of agricultural waste (corn cob) in the manufacturing of composite materials. In the first stage, composite materials were manufactured and tested using synthetic matrices (epoxy and acrylic) and hybrid matrices based on dammar resin (50% dammar, 60% dammar, and 70% dammar). Since it was observed that the samples had low mechanical properties under tensile and bending loads, the study was expanded to the production of sandwich-type composites with silk fabric facings. It was found that, by utilizing silk fiber, both tensile and bending strength increased from a few hundred percent up to a few thousand percent, compared to the samples that are only reinforced with crushed corn cob.