Influence of Fiber Content and Fiber Length on the Thermal and Electrical Properties of Kenaf Short Fiber–Reinforced Bulk Molding Compounds (BMCs) for Compression Molding

The recent trends have seen natural fiber–reinforced composites (NFRCs) garnering a large following due to their low density, commercial viability, low health risk, high tensile strength and modulus, and renewability. This paper discusses the thermal properties such as the thermal conductivity, heat deflection temperature, thermal stability, and dielectric strength of kenaf-reinforced bulk molding compound (BMC). The Lewis–Nielsen method was used to calculate theoretical values and compare with the experimental values. It has been found that the average thermal conductivity decreases as the fiber loading increases for all fiber lengths. The highest was observed in the BMC reinforced with 9-mm kenaf short fiber, with a value of 0.42. It has also been found that the heat deflection temperature decreases proportionally to the loading of the fiber due to varied fiber stress loading in the material. It was also found that fiber length did not play a significant part in the heat deflection temperature. From the DSC and TGA results, it can be said that thermal stability is preserved for all materials and peaks at 12 mm 20%. However, dielectric strength was found to be directly proportional to fiber loading as well as fiber length. The highest was at 15 mm 30% loading. It can be concluded that both fiber loading and fiber length play a significant part in the thermal and electrical properties of the composites.

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