Impact Strength of Ganoderma Boninense Composites with Variation in Volume and Mesh

Muhammad Rafiq Yanhar

Abstract: This study aims to determine the relationship between volume variation and mesh variation of the composite reinforcing particles. In this study the fiber used came from the fungus ganodermaboninense, a fungus that can damage and kill oil palm trees. The mushrooms were dried in an oven and then made into particles with meshes of 20, 30, 40 and 50, then impact specimens were formed with various volume and mesh variations. The test results show that the addition of filler volume from 5% to 20% in the polyester resin matrix causes an increase in impact strength of 38.51%, further research can still be done by adding filler volume above 20% to determine the maximum impact strength of the material. The addition of filler mesh sizes from mesh 20 to mesh 50 in the polyester resin matrix causes an increase in impact strength of 58.22%. This data also shows that the smaller the filler size, the higher the impact strength. The addition of filler volume from 5% to 20% in the epoxy resin matrix causes a decrease in impact strength of 25.83%. While the impact strength from mesh 20 to mesh 50 on epoxy resin there was an increase in impact strength of 39.26%. Compared to polyester resin, the increase in impact strength of this epoxy resin is still smaller. It can also be concluded that overall the matrix performance of polyester resin is better than that of epoxy resin.

Keywords: Impact strength, Ganoderma Boninense, Volume Variation, Mesh Variation