The Effects of Laminate Orientation in Resin Infused Kenaf Fibre Reinforced Epoxy Composite

Water retted kenaf fibre reinforced epoxy laminates with five distinct fibre orientations, unidirectional, [+30/0/-30], [+45/0/-45], [+60/0/-60] and [90/] s were produced through resin infusion technique. The fibre weight fraction in each laminate was controlled and the effects of varying orientation in the resulting composite lamina were characterized through tensile and impact properties of the specimens. Superior tensile strength and modulus were observed for the unidirectional lamina while the orthogonal lamina [90/] s depicted the greatest resistance to impact. Specimen with higher proportion of fibres aligned parallel to the loading direction show greater enhancement in tensile strength while impact property of the lamina was found to be greater with increases in fibre orientation perpendicular to the direction of impact load.