Residence Hotel, Uniten, Putrajaya

14-16 December 2009

DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF CHAIR FROM HYBRID BANANA PSEUDO-

STEM/GLASS FIBRE REINFORCED POLYESTER COMPOSITE

M.I.H. Khamis, S.M. Sapuan*, E.S Zainudin, R. Wirawan, B.T.H.T Baharuddin

Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia

43400 Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
*Email: sapuan@eng.upm.edu.my

ABSTRACT

A study chair has been designed and fabricated using combination of conventional material
and natural fibre composite. The seat and the backrest of the chair were made from a hybrid
of banana pseudo-stem and glass fibre reinforced polyester composite while the chassis was
made from stainless steel. Five concepts have been developed and the selected concept was
further enhanced to achieve both ergonomic and aesthetic design. Hand lay-up method was
used to fabricate the composite parts of the chair while the chassis was fabricated using
commercial manufacturing process. The aesthetic value and mechanical properties make the
hybrid of banana pseudo-stem and glass fibre reinforced polyester composites suitable for
furniture making materials.

Keywords: polymer composites, chair, banana, natural fibre

1. INTRODUCTION
Composite material is a composed of reinforcement (fibres, particles, flakes, or fillers)
embedded in a matrix material which both of them have a significantly different physical or
chemical properties and remain separate and distinct on a macroscopic level within the
finished structure [1,2]. Composites were applied in automotive industries, aerospace,
medical, manufacturing industries, sports and many other engineering industries. Carbon
fibres, for example, are widely used in automobile industry especially in production of high
performance vehicle due to its lightweight and strength properties. Recently, natural
composites start to gaining popularity in engineering application. This is due to the property
of natural fibre that is comparable with conventional materials [3-4].

Banana pseudo-stem is one of the natural fibres that are from plant fibre group. The ‘‘pseudo-
stem’’ is a clustered, cylindrical aggregation of leaf stalk bases. Banana fiber at present is a
waste product of banana cultivation and either not properly utilized or partially done so. The
extraction of fiber from the pseudo-stem is not a common practice and much of the stem is
not used for production of fibers. Studies have been made on this fibres and the result shows
that this material has a comparable properties with conventional fibres such as glass and

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14-16 December 2009

carbon fibre. Advantages in cost strengthen the reason why continuous research and studies
on natural composites is being made. With proper combination and process, natural fibre can
be use as a material for many engineering application from different industries to replace
current or conventional materials [4-5].

Furniture industry, which concentrates on both engineering and non-engineering aspect, is

one of the opportunities to apply natural fibre. Telephone stand table, dining table, chair, rack
or wardrobe is an example of furniture that can be made by natural fibre such as banana fibre.
While providing the required strength, applying natural fibre in product design can also create
a creative and unique presentation value [4-5].

Chair is considered as one of the furniture or household equipment that has a large variety of
usage. Chair is used in the classrooms, meeting rooms, dining table, labs, study table, and
many more. Chair also has a variety of design depends on their type or function. Usually
chair is made from conventional material such as polymer, steel or wood. It is rare to find a
chair that is made from composite or more specific from natural fibre composite. Although
studies have shown that natural composites have potentials and advantages in market place,
yet there still lack of commercialization for this material.

This study involve with design and fabrication of a product using natural composite as a
material. A proper design method is required in order to design product that satisfied
customer requirements and needs. Based on a core of design activities, design is presented as
a systematic and disciplined process. This is accomplished through a design methodology
known as Total Design[6].

2. DESIGN AND FABRICATION PROCESS

2.1 Market Research

Market research is the first approach or procedure in total design method. For this project,
market research has been conducted and areas of research are mainly focused on the design
aspect of a chair including materials, design aesthetical, ergonomic and safety issues that is
related with user demands.

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14-16 December 2009

A study chair has been chosen as a product for this project. The term ‘study’ is a market
description or symbol for chair that being used while the occupant is doing work such as
reading or typing. Study chair only practical for single occupant and usually support either
reclining, straight or both sitting position.

2.2 Product Design Specification (PDS)

Product design specification or PDS is a dynamic document used as a guideline to this total
design method. There are 9 specifications that have been deduced for this project.
2.2.` Performance
Product must be able to withstand load up to 80 kg. The product alone must be weighted
around 2 to 9 kg. The product must also capable to support 2 most common sitting position;
reclining and straight.
2.2.2 Environment
Product is designed for indoor purpose only (inside a house/office/room) either with or
without air conditioner system.
2.2.3 Life of service
The product should withstand normal daily use (10 hours) for several years.
2.2.4 Material
The chair’s seat is made from hybrid banana/glass reinforced polyester composite while other
components or parts can be made from lightweight and high strength material such as plastic,
aluminium, metals or composites.
2.2.5 Size and dimension
The total height of the chair must be between 850-950 mm including the backrest. The width
of the chair is between 400 to 500 mm and must be able to cover the occupant’s body. The
depth of seat should be around 450 to 500 mm (buttock popliteal length). If the chair is
designed with armrest, the height of the armrest must be between 100-160 mm and the width
should fit any sizes of arm.
2.2.6 Fabrication process
Seat of the chair will be fabricated using hand lay-up method while the chassis part will be
fabricated using any conventional process depend on the material used. Each parts of the
product can be assembled via temporary or permanent joint. Permanent joints are limited to
rivet joint, welding joint or pressed joint while temporary joint is limited to only mechanical
joint with size range (in metric) around 4 mm to 8 mm.
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 Residence Hotel, Uniten, Putrajaya
14-16 December 2009

2.2.7 Ergonomics
Product must have a portable characteristic such as lightweight and simple design with
minimum space consumption so that it can be transferred or moved to any location desired by
users. Product must also provide comfort, safety and suitable sitting posture to the occupants
by providing support.
2.2.8 Aesthetic
Chair’s seat will be presented in its original output from hand lay-up process which is golden
brown in colour with woven fabric. Other parts of the chair will painted with any suitable
colours depend on the material used. If the chassis part is made from metal or aluminium;
chrome, black or white colour will be used. Other materials are preferred to use darker
colour. Jointing mechanism such as screw or rivet should be hidden if possible to maximize
aesthetical value. If screw joint is used, the screw must be a round head type.
2.2.9 Cost
Total cost of the product must be around RM 500 to RM 600.

2.3 Concept Design

This part of total design is divided into 2 stage; concept development and concept selection.
For concept development, ideas and solutions are generated by using gallery technique and
presented via CAD modelling. The best concept is then selected by using weighted properties
evaluation matrix.

2.4 Concept Selection

Concept development stage offered many design solution. In this stage, the best design
concept will be selected based on evaluation matrix. Table 1 shows the selection of best
concept by using weighted property method.

From weighted property method, concept 5 shows the highest score compared to other
concept and thus will be selected for further enhancement.

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14-16 December 2009

Table 1: Weighted property method for concept selection

1 2 3 4 5

CONCEPTS

CHARACTERISTIC W R S R S R S R S R S
Stability 5 5 25 4 20 5 25 4 20 5 25
Strength 5 5 25 3 15 5 25 3 15 5 25
Weight 4 1 4 4 16 2 8 3 12 3 12
Portability 4 2 8 5 20 3 12 4 16 4 16
Less complexity 4 3 12 5 20 3 12 5 20 4 16
Size/Dimension 3 1 3 3 9 2 6 5 15 4 12
Backrest comfort 4 4 16 3 12 5 20 4 16 4 16
Seat comfort 4 4 16 5 20 4 16 4 16 5 20
Easy Fabrication 3 2 6 4 12 3 9 4 12 3 9
Cost effective 4 2 8 4 16 3 12 5 20 4 16
TOTAL SCORE 123 160 145 162 167

Note – W is importance weight for each characteristic, R is rating or score for each
concepts, S is the product of W and R.

3. FABRICATION PROCESS

Fabrication is the final stage in total design where design will be fabricated using processes
that have been deduced in PDS. For composite seat and backrest, hand lay-up was used as a
fabrication process and the chassis of the chair was fabricated using several machining
process.

3.1 Fabrication of Composite Seat and Backrest

Hand lay-up is an open mould type of composites manufacturing process. The basic hand lay-
up procedure consists of applying the release agent and gel coat to the mould followed by
fibre in strands, mat, or woven roving. Resin with a curing agent is then applied to the fibre
reinforcement and roller is used to insure complete wet out and wet through. In this study, a
woven fabric of banana fibre and glass fibre was used for the seat and backrest design with
polyester resin as matrix material.

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The 9th National Symposium on Polymeric Materials 2009 (NSPM 2009)

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14-16 December 2009

3.2 Fabrication of Chair’s chassis

The fabricated chassis is shown as in Figure 1. Chassis design required bending at an angle of
85° for both upper and lower parts of the chassis and welding process for assembling both
components. The rest of chassis part such as struts and joining plate was also permanently
joined by weld. Material used for chassis part was stainless steel coated with chrome and has
a diameter of 19 mm with thickness of 1 mm.

Figure 1: Fabricated chassis

3.3 Assembly and Finishing Process

After finished fabricating each part of the chair, the assembly process was taken place. The
upper part and the lower part of the chassis were permanently joined by welding. The
composite parts of the chair are drilled first at diameter of 12 mm and 5 mm depth. A nut was
pressed into each of the holes before it was assembled with the chassis. The screw used was a
round head type with size of M6 x D12. After completed all the assembly process, product
was then polished as a finishing process before it was ready to be used. The fabricated
product was shown as in Figure 2.

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 Residence Hotel, Uniten, Putrajaya
14-16 December 2009

Figure 2: Assembled study chair

3 CONCLUSION

A composite chair from hybrid banana and glass fibre reinforced polyester was designed and
fabricated. The fabricated product has a stable design, with unique in presentation and
ergonomically considered. The product was designed to be use as a study chair, should be
match with typical furniture in a room or office due to its colour and dimension. From
ergonomic point of view, the chair was able to support both straight and reclining sitting
posture due to the suitable position and angle of the backrest. Generally, this composite study
chair is an acceptable design that includes 3 main important characteristics in furniture
industries which is aesthetic, ergonomic and safe.

REFERENCES
[1] D. Hull and T.W. Clyne An introduction to composite materials, 2nd Edition
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1997).
[2] http://www.designinsite.dk/htmsider/inspmat.htm, accessed on 20th June (2008).
[3] W.J. Pamela. The life of composite materials. (2007)
[4] L.M. Sherman Natural fibres: the new fashion in automotive plastics. Plastic
Technology; 45(10) (1999).; 62–8.
[5] http://www.binhaitimes.com/history.html, accessed on 14th July (2008).
[6] S. Pugh, Total Design, Pearson, Harlow (1991)

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