| ABSTRACT |
Natural fibres such as rice husk and sugarcane bagasse possess promising sound absorption characteristics but their poor fire resistance limits their application in indoor environments. Natural fibre composite panels were fabricated using rice husk and sugarcane bagasse as materials, unsaturated polyester resin as the binder, and magnesium hydroxide with zinc borate as flame-retardant additives. Composite panels with different binder-to-fibre ratios were produced and evaluated through burning tests. Acoustic performance was determined using the impedance tube method based on ASTM E1050. Water absorption analysis and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were also conducted to investigate the physical characteristics of the fibres. The results showed that the composite panels containing a 30:70 binder-to-fibre ratio achieved the best fire performance among the tested formulations. Rice husk composite panels demonstrated superior fire resistance, which was attributed to
their higher silica content and enhanced char-forming ability during combustion. Sugarcane bagasse composite panels achieved the highest sound absorption performance and Noise Reduction Coefficient (NRC) due to their porous and interconnected fibre structure. SEM observations confirmed that fibre through alkali treatment can improve fibre-binder adhesion.
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