Abstract :
The rapid development of the palm oil industry in Indonesia over the time has
resulted in an increase in waste from the production of processed palm oil such as
empty palm oil bunches which are very disturbing for people living near the palm
oil mill area. Oil palm empty fruit bunches waste can cause an unpleasant aroma,
and not infrequently the waste is accidentally thrown into the riverso that it pollutes
river water with the remaining oil content in it. There are many studies that examine
how the strength of the composite material reinforced with oil palm empty fruit
bunches, but the bending strength or the ability of the composite material to
withstand buckling loads against variations in fiber volume fraction is not yet
known. For this reason, in this study, the fabrication of fiber-reinforced composite
material from waste oil palm empty fruit bunches with a Yukalac 157 BQTN-EX
polyester resin binder and MEKPO catalyst will be carried out. Oil palm empty
fruit bunch fiber composite material was fabricated with variations in fiber volume
fraction of 9%, 11%, and 13% through the vacuum bagging method. Bending
testing of composite materials with each fiber volume fraction was carried out using
the three point bending method according to the ASTM D7264 standard. The results
of this study are the manufacturing process and the value of the bending strength
of the composite material of oil palm empty fruit bunches with fiber volume
fractions of 9%, 11%, and 13%. Through the results of the bending test, the average
bending stress value on the composite material of oil palm empty fruit bunches fiber
with a fiber volume fraction of 9% is 42,65 MPa, 11% is 72,81 MPa, and 13% is
94,27 MPa.