Firuz Zainuddin
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Preferred name
Firuz Zainuddin
Official Name
Firuz, Zainuddin
Alternative Name
Firuz, Z.
Firuz, Zainuddin
Zainudin, Firuz
Zainuddin, F.
Main Affiliation
Scopus Author ID
55955213100
Researcher ID
AAC-4690-2019

Research Output
Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
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Effect of halogen free-flame retardants on the mechanical and morphological properties of Kenaf/Polyurethane foam composites

2020 , Nur Suhaili Mohd Soberi , Rozyanty Rahman , Firuz Zainuddin , Hazim Mohamad Amini

Kenaf/polyurethane foam (PUF) was synthesized form PUF and kenaf core fiber with expandable graphite (EG) and aluminum hydroxide (ATH) at varying amounts. In the production of polymer foam composites, the processing methods determine the properties of the final products. In this work, the potential of high energy milled on EG has reduced the EG platelet size to improve its dispersion in PUF matrix. From the results obtained, PU/KF/6ATH/10EG shows the highest mechanical properties, i.e. modulus and compression strength, while PU/KF/2ATH/5EG shows the lowest mechanical properties. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) shows the effect of adding kenaf fiber, EG and ATH in PUF to the foam cell structure and size.

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Physical characteristic and in-vitro bioactivity property of sintered glasses made via sol-gel and powder sintering process

2022-12 , Syed Nuzul Fadzli Syed Adam , Firuz Zainuddin , Azlin Fazlina Osman , Hasmaliza Mohamad

In this work, ternary system (SiO2-CaO-P2O5) biocompatible glass with different compositions (CaO/P2O5 ratio) were prepared by sol-gel method and sintering process. The physical characteristic and bioactive properties of each different sample composition were analyzed using XRF, particle sizer, N2 adsorption-desorption, FTIR, XRD, and FESEM-EDX. The sintered glass pellets were subjected to immersion studies in a simulated body fluid (SBF) solution for 14 days. All compositions of gel-glass particulates showed mesoporous-type structures and consisted of very high porosities with nano-pores in size. Different Ca/P ratios in gel-glass composition are affected by different porous characteristics. All compositions of sintered glass showed very good bioactive behavior by significant deposition of the carbonate apatite layer. Sintered glass with the Ca/P ratio = 2.33 showed very significant bioactive properties as it also comprised the highest pore volume and size. However, sintered glass with the lowest Ca/P ratio (Ca:P=1.50) showed a quite significant reduction in the bioactive property as it also consisted of the lowest pore volume and pore sizes. Hence, the in-vitro bioactivity property of sintered glass is significantly influenced by the increase in its porous characteristics due to differences in the Ca/P ratio.

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Comparison of corn and tapioca starch binders on the characteristic of rice straw charcoal briquettes

2023-09 , Syed Nuzul Fadzli Syed Adam , Firuz Zainuddin , Noor Zulaika Salleh Morgan , Hazmi Helmi Saroni

Agricultural waste was abundant and commonly burnt on the landfilled due to no significant uses. Rice straw was rarely used in proper scientific work for the production of charcoal briquettes. Rice straw can be converted into an alternative charcoal briquette which is used for generating heat energy. However, the suitable type and concentration of binder used for the briquette production were still unclear. The aim of this study is to make the properties comparison between corn and tapioca starch as binder used in rice straw charcoal briquettes. Chopped rice straw was combusted in oven at 260 °C for 4 h in order to produce char powder. Each kind of starch and char powder was thoroughly mixed together and then compacted into charcoal briquettes by using a carbon steel die. Charcoal briquette samples were then analysed for volatile matter, fixed carbon, moisture content, ash content and burning rate. It was found that corn and tapioca starch binders with different binder concentrations affect slightly different characters and properties of charcoal briquettes product.

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The important characteristic and properties of dolomite minerals and potential uses as bioceramics: an overview

2025 , Nur Hasnidah Ahmad Shukeri , Syed Nuzul Fadzli Syed Adam , Mohamad Hasmaliza , Heah Cheng Yong , Firuz Zainuddin

Dolomite is a raw carbonate mineral rich in contents with calcium, magnesium and oxide compounds also including other minor impurities from other compounds. It could be easily found in sedimentary rock which is most likely known as dolostone associated with limestone and chalk carbonates. This mineral has been used in a variety of industries including agricultural, metallurgy, constructions, biomass and others. Currently, there are abundant sources of local dolomite minerals but have very limited applications when compared to other types of carbonate minerals. This was contributed by the lack of basic technical information on dolomite properties and no extensive research has been done to evaluate the new potential of this mineral. Therefore, this paper made a brief review on the important characteristics, properties and thermal behavior of dolomite and based on these findings discussed the dolomite's suitability and potential to be used as bioceramics and in biomedical applications.<

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Physical and mechanical analysis of paddy leaves charcoal briquettes

2020 , Noor Zulaika Salleh Morgan , Firuz Zainuddin , Syed Nuzul Fadzli Syed Adam

Paddy leaves can be used to make charcoal briquettes and good as renewable energy sources. The charcoal briquettes were pressed at a pressure range of 50 – 90 bars using the cold press machine. This paper reports the physical and mechanical properties of charcoal briquettes produced from paddy leaves. The moisture content of paddy leaves charcoal briquettes was calculated after dried in an oven at 80°C until the briquettes reached a constant weight. Then, the paddy leaves charcoal briquettes were subjected to the Compression Test with a maximum load capacity of 500kg and crosshead speed of 0.305 mm/min until the briquettes came to a failure as for the investigation of its compressive strength. The average moisture content of paddy leaves charcoal briquettes were in the range of 7-8%. The lowest value of moisture content was 7.32%, recorded by CB5 charcoal briquette sample which, contributed to the highest value of its compressive strength. Its compressive strength was 2.176 MPa. The investigation showed that CB5 was the best charcoal briquette, and the compressive strength was affected by the moisture content in the paddy leaves charcoal briquettes.

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Effect of Sodium Bicarbonate Additions on the Physical, Mechanical and Bioactive Property of Sol-Gel Bioglass

2020 , Syed Nuzul Fadzli Syed Adam , Alias Suffi Irni , Firuz Zainuddin

Porous bioceramics are the materials of choice for non-load bearing bone implants. Calcium phosphates and bioglass are widely used due to excellent biocompability. The primary function of porous bioceramics are as filler material for bone defects. In this research, 10% amount of sodium bicarbonates (Na2HCO3) were mixed with sol-gel derived glass powder (SiO2-CaO-P2O5) and sintered at 700 C for 3 hours. It was found that, additions of sodium bicarbonate induced a foaming effect during sintering of bioglass thus increased the porosity content of the glass-ceramics obtained. However, the increased in porosity significantly reduced the compressive strength of the crystallized glass. The increased in porosity content and formation of sodium related phases within the crystallized glass matrix after sintering resulted in enhancement of its in vitro bioactivity property when tested in SBF solution.

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Swelling, tensile and thermal behaviors of citric acid crosslinked Tapioca starch/cellulose biocomposite films

2020 , Salleh Morgan Noor Zulaika , Ong Hui Lin , Firuz Zainuddin

The biocomposite films were prepared using a solution casting method and allowed to dry in the oven of 50 °C. The cellulose used in this research was extracted from the rice straw. The biocomposite films firstly were prepared without crosslinker with various cellulose content; (0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0) g wt%. Based on the tensile strength result, 0.6 g of cellulose is an optimum amount to prepare the biocomposite films with various amounts of crosslinker; (1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) g. The tapioca starch/cellulose biocomposite films crosslinked with lemon juices have higher tensile strength (16 MPa) and lower in swelling percentage (3.32%) compared to the biocomposite films crosslinked with key lime juice (5.44 %). The thermal behavior was studied based on the Differential Scanning Calorimetry test shows the biocomposite film that highly crosslinked needs higher energy during their phase change. The energy liberated in the tapioca starch/cellulose biocomposite film with key lime juice as crosslinker is 201.6 J/g while that of biocomposite film with lemon juice as crosslinker is 383.0 J/g.

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Effect of filler size and loading on thermo-mechanical degradation of polypropylene-ethylene/wollastonite composite

2020 , Lip Teng Saw , Firuz Zainuddin , Cao Xuan Viet , Du Ngoc Uy Lan

This study is to understand the side effect of wollastonite fillers in polymer compounding that caused different levels of thermo-mechanical degradation (TMD) during extrusion. Wollastonite has a needle-like structure with different ratio of L/D; it compounded with the polypropylene-ethylene copolymer (PPcoE) using a twin-screw extruder. The effect on the TMD of PPcoE was determined by analysing the by-products within the extrudates via FTIR. The rheology of PPcoE composite was measured using a capillary rheometer, and the thermal stability of composite was studied using TGA. In this study, TMD is classified as two levels: chain scission and oxidisation. The wollastonite filler were found to accelerate the TMD mechanism and generated oxidised products during extrusion. The reduction of filler size effectively minimised the chain cleavage of PPcoE matrix, also come with improvement in thermal stability. However, increasing the filler loading had a dominant effect of inducing more chain cleavage on the polymer matrix.

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