An experimental investigation on mechanical properties of Fe2O3 microparticles reinforced polypropylene

Abstract

In this paper, a new polymer composite was prepared using polypropylene and Fe2O3 microparticles. Effect of weight fraction and microparticle size on the tensile strength and Young's modulus were studied experimentally. Also, SEM image of fracture surfaces was investigated. The experimental design of experiments was performed using a response surface methodology. Tensile test specimens consist of 5–20% Fe2O3 microparticles of five different sizes from 33 μm to 125 μm. The results showed that by increasing the weight fraction of the reinforcement, Young's modulus was improved compared to the pure sample, and elongation percentage was decreased. Also, as the size of the microparticles increased, the effect of the particles on the mechanical properties of the PP/Fe2O3 composite was reduced. For specimens containing 20wt.% of Fe2O3 and particle size higher than 91 μm due to the agglomeration of microparticles, the tensile strength reduced by 16%. However, if 20 wt.% of Fe2O3 microparticles with a particle size less than 33 μm were added, the use of these microparticles would increase Young's modulus by 300% and the tensile strength by 60%. Finally, it has been shown that dramatic improvements in the mechanical properties can be achieved by the incorporation of a suitable amount of Fe2O3 microparticles in polypropylene.