Abstract
In this work, Malaysia's natural sugarcane bagasse fibres and Portland cement were used as precursors for composites, with styrene butadiene (SBR) latex as a binding agent. The matrix was Portland cement whilst the filler and reinforcement was bagasse fillers. Various compositions of SBR ratio; ranging between 3-18 %wt were prepared for evaluation. These samples were then evaluated for mechanical property measurement as well as morphology. It was found that the composites with 6 % of SBR content showed the highest stiffness. Composites with the highest stiffness and elastic modulus value were then subjected to radiations between 10 - 70 kGy. The electron beam radiation technique at different doses was carried out in order to modify the microstructure of the bagasse/cement composites. It was noted that the elastic modulus was greatly improved by 26.5% with 30 kGy radiation dose. Analyses by the scanning electron microscopy on the microstructurcs of the irradiated composites indicated that the voids within the matrices were greatly reduced, which therefore increases the mechanical properties of the composites, as a whole, than those of unirradiated ones.