Development of Strength of Oil Palm Wood Using Natural Rubber and Compressed Method

Abstract

The present research studies the improvement of mechanical properties of oil palm wood. The sample of oil palm wood was collected in the range of 25 – 30 years with upper than 2 meters from the bottom of the trunk. After that, the samples of lumber were fabricated in accordance with ASTM D 143. The samples were dry to meet the standard range of 12 – 16 percent. The natural rubber latex was, then, injected into the samples with the compression machine with compressive value of 5.6 ksc in order to fill the void of the oil palm sample with the natural rubber latex as far as and increased the absorption of latex with compression. After that, the oil palm wood is compressed by a multi-purpose compressor of 15, 30 and 45 ksc. The results obtained show that the mechanical properties of palm wood, modified with natural rubber and compressed with force 30 ksc, show the highest property when compared to non-modify palm wood. Compressive strength of wood in parallel and vertical were increasing 96.50% and 147.55%, respectively. In addition, the strength of shearing parallel was rising 72.47% as well as the flexural strength 26.95%. Therefore, this oil palm wood that implementation of natural rubber and the process of compression is one of an interesting technique for enhancement the quality of palm wood.