Performance of Kenaf Fibre Reinforced Epoxy Biocomposite for High Voltage Insulator Application

Current applications of natural fibre-reinforced composite are widely spread in various applications such as construction and building structures as well as automotive parts, in which compression and flexural properties are the primary concern of researchers.The aim of this research is to evaluate the performance of kenaf fibre-reinforced epoxy composite as the core of high voltage insulator subjected to identified wind load conditions by using finite element analysis which is then further validated using the theory of mechanics of materials.It was found that under tensile load, the kenaf fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) experiences 2 times higher elongation compared to synthetic glass FRP but the tensile stress is only 21% of its material strength; under torsion load, despite having a 2 times higher angle of rotation compared to glass FRP, the deflection of kenaf FRP is still 24 % below the typical damage limits; under bending load, the kenaf FRP experiences slightly higher bending stress compared to the glass FRP but the maximum stress is only 19% of its material strength.Under electrical load, the kenaf FRP experiences 13.6 % higher electrical stress than glass FRP and it shows that the electrical performance of kenaf FRP is almost comparable to the glass FRP.Even though the kenaf FRP naturally has lower strength, the performance of kenaf FRP is almost comparable to the conventional material from glass FRP and the results indicate that the kenaf FRP is able to sustain different types of loads when it is under operating.