ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECT OF FRESH WATER ON MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF BAMBOO APUS LAMINATED BOARD WITH CROSS FIBER DIRECTION OF 90º FOR SHIP SKIN MATERIAL

The potential of bamboo fiber as a composite material has been widely researched as an alternative material to replace wood as a construction material. This encourages the use of bamboo composite materials as an alternative raw material for ship construction materials. This study aims to analyze the quality of laminated bamboo composites after being immersed in fresh water for a certain period of time. Apus bamboo fibers are formed into boards reinforced with Epoxy Resin with hand lay-up lamination and 2 MPa pressure to form laminated bamboo boards with 10 mm thickness. The laminated bamboo composite specimens were immersed in a fresh water solution with 3 different timeframe variations, namely 3 weeks, 6 weeks and 9 weeks. To determine the interaction effect of laminated bamboo composites on fresh water solutions, mechanical testing was carried out in the laboratory which included tensile tests, flexural tests and impact tests. The average results of the tensile, flexural and impact tests show that the interaction between specimens of laminated bamboo composites with fresh water solutions affects the quality of physical properties and mechanical properties of laminated bamboo composites. The longer the immersion time in the fresh water solution will reduce the mechanical properties of the laminated bamboo composites.