It is evident that sugarcane/bagasse is a highly potential natural composite fiber. In this study, the correlation of composition fiber amount to the mechanical strength was presented. Bagasse was treated with alkali and then reinforced in polypropylene by means of hot pressing. Fiber loading was set to be varied from 10 to 20 wt%. Composite samples were subjected to tensile, hardness, and flexural characterization. Composites with 30 wt% of fiber loading registered maximum tensile strength while with 10 wt% fiber loading registered the minimum. Hardness increases with the amount of fiber. Flexural strength and flexural modulus were found to be greater than original polypropylene. Scanning electron microscopy examination revealed the mechanisms of the strength gain in morphological point of view. The findings give manufactures and engineers a sound basis decision whether to apply the use of this composite for weight reduction especially in automotive applications or not.

The optimization of surface integrity in drilling process using response surface method (RSM) is presented. This paper investigates the effects of drilling parameter such as spindle speed, feed rate and drill diameter on the surface roughness and surface texture of drilled hole by applying RSM. There are three factors (spindle speed, feed rate and drill diameter) under investigation, therefore, by applying RSM there will be 20 experimental observations. The minimum surface roughness measured for the hole was 1.06μm at combination of 2000rpm spindle speed, 78mm/min feed rate and 2.5mm drill diameter. While the maximum surface roughness of 2.59μm was measured at the combination of 250rpm spindle speed, 153mm/min feed rate and 3.5mm drill diameter. One factor plot analysis found that the most significant parameter was spindle speed followed by drill diameter and feed rate. Thus, surface roughness decreased when increasing the spindle speed, feed rate and drill diameter. There were interactions between all the parameter of spindle speed, feed rate and drill diameter in drilling process under investigation

Polyetheretherketones (PEEK) have been increasingly employed as biomaterials for trauma, orthopedic, and spinal implants. These implants are commonly fabricated by extrusion and injection molding, and for this fact, additional machining operations are required. Surface roughness is a vital factor for medical implants since the cells of the surrounding tissue interact with the underlying substrate on the micro and nanometer scales. For some application, such as self-mating articulation cervical disc implants smooth surface finish is critical so as to minimize the contact friction and wear. The requirement for a fine surface roughness poses a major concern in machining of polymeric base materials due to its low thermal conductivity. Machining performance such as surface roughness is directly affected by the milling parameter and should be methodically analyzed. Thus, this paper aims to study the effect of milling parameter on surface roughness of PEEK plastic under dry machining condition. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) technique was used to evaluate the influence of milling parameter namely cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut on machined surface. From the conducted study, based on the statistical analysis result it is found that feed rate is the main factor that influence the surface roughness followed by milling speed and depth of cut. In addition, optical observation on the machined surface indicated that the mechanisms of the surface finish obtained from machining of polymeric based composites are different from those obtained from machining of the metals. It shows that there is some form of polymeric softening taking place when the cutting speed exceeded a critical cutting speed