Utilization of screw-pine leaf bio-composite for home accessories
Screw-pine leaf is used in traditional craft product in Malaysia and some part of South East Asia. This traditional material is well-known as mengkuang in Malays is an appropriate material to produce the daily necessity products such as cloth storage box, food cover, mat and ba...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2019
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/84457/1/FRSB%202019%208%20-%20ir.pdf |
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| Summary: | Screw-pine leaf is used in traditional craft product in Malaysia and some part of South East Asia.
This traditional material is well-known as mengkuang in Malays is an appropriate
material to produce the daily necessity products such as cloth storage box, food cover, mat and
bag. There are three types of screw-pine leaf used in Malaysia which the usage of each of
the screw- pine leaf in the craft product of is variety due to the differences of the leaves
strength. The research focus on Pandanus atrocarpus locally called mengkuang minyak and
it is the most durable among the three types of screw-pine leaf. There is an issue
about the possibility on the extinction of the mengkuang plaiting heritage in Malaysia.
The young generation has less concern in continuity of this heritage skill and
business. It is the derivation issue of the research problem that shows the
underutilization of the screw-pine leaf as material and less application on high value
added product such as home accessories. Working together with community from Kampung Bentan
, Pahang and Kampung Air Molek, Melaka, the researcher conducted a study on producing a
screw-pine leaf bio-composite that will encourage and promote the utilization of the
screw-pine leaf in high value product. However, in order to apply the screw-pine leaf
on high value added product as bio- composite material, documented data is needed on
the properties of this material. Through the early process of producing the screw-pine leaf
bio-composite, the researcher identify the needs of treatments on screw-pine leaf. Several
experiment included alkali treatment (sodium hydroxide), acid treatment (boric acid) and
non-treatment woven is conducted. The sample of the screw-pine leaf bio-composite is
produced by using the lamination hand lay–up process of cold press method to introduce
the screw-pine leaf bio-composite to the rural business. The testing on tensile and flexural
strength is studied to prove the screw-pine leaf can be applied as material as any other
natural fiber bio- composite. The testing conducted referring to the ASTM Standard;
tensile strength ASTM D638 and flexural strength ASTM D790-07. The test shows the highest tensile strength is record by acid treated screw-pine leaf bio-composite with 1.878 MPa and
1.877 GPa for the tensile young modulus. While, the flexural strength is 8.57 MPa and
0.538 GPa for the flexural young modulus is recorded by untreated screw-pine leaf bio- composite.
Comparison to banana leaf bio-composite with similar fabrication process, the screw-pine
leaf bio-composite in this study shows better mechanical properties. The researcher applied the
screw-pine leaf bio-composite in various design artefacts consists of furniture, lighting and small
decorative products. The artefact is validated through a survey that studying the acceptance
of the screw-pine leaf bio-composite material in product design based on the listed
attributes. The attributes were collected through brainstorming from a group of designers
that experienced in marketing a product. The result of the validation survey shows an acceptance
from public and designers especially on the form and the story as traditional material of
the proposed product. Also, the survey shows that, there are high-potential marketability
for the product with the application of screw-pine leafs. Particularly for the small
decorative product and the survey shows that the lighting product is the most suitable to apply
the screw-pine leaf bio-composite. The survey also shows the demand that position the
screw-pine leaf product in the market. Hence, by proposing an alternative material of
screw-pine leaf bio-composite, the range of screw-pine leaf product based can be various. With
this kind of approach, there are high possibilities that the rural business of screw-pine leaf
heritage
can be revitalized and encourage the utilization of the screw-pine leaves. |
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