Abstract
The present paper investigates the tensile properties of the hybrid of bamboo-coconut fibers (coir)/unsaturated polyester composites.Portland cement has been used to modify the unsaturated polyester matrix with the content variations of 0, 10, and 20 wt%.The content of fibers (bamboo and coir) was kept fixed at 30 vol%, with the bamboo to coir content ratio of 0:30, 12:18, 18:12 and 30:0.It was found that for each filler content, the lowest and highest tensile strength was belonged to coir and bamboo composites, respectively.The tensile strength tended to increase with the increase of bamboo content in the hybrid composites.The elastic modulus also followed the trend of the tensile strength, but it reached the optimum at the bamboo content of 18% for the filled hybrid composites.Coir fiber in the hybrid composites increased the elongation at break due to the coir fiber pulled out, while bamboo fiber improved the stiffness.Adding 10 wt% of Portland cement decreased the tensile strength but improved the stiffness of the hybrid composites.