Characterization of post-consumer HDPE/sugarcane bagasse biocomposites

Abstract

The enormous production of plastic wastes has gained a huge attraction of researchers in the development of eco-friendly biocomposite materials with the adoption of polymer recycling or reusing. This paper was aimed to investigate the influence of light fiber modification and fiber loadings (5–15 wt%) on the thermal, mechanical and physical properties of post-consumer high-density polyethylene (pHDPE)/sugarcane bagasse (SB) biocomposites. Three types of SB fibers were used, namely raw, washed and alkali-treated SB with sodium hydroxide. These coupling agent-free biocomposites were prepared via extrusion and followed by hot/cold pressing. Based on thermogravimetric analysis results, the thermal stability of biocomposites was not remarkably affected by the both fiber types and loading, however, the influence on the residues left after decomposition was shown. By incorporating raw SB onto pHDPE matrix without coupling agent, tensile strength (14.0–16.4 MPa) decreased but it was recovered upon alkali treatment (only for 5 wt% at 20.8 MPa) which was increased by 12% as compared to neat matrix (18.5 MPa). Interestingly, the stiffness of biocomposites increased linearly with fiber loading, as indicated by increment of experimental Youngs modulus results up to 515.5 MPa than that of pHDPE (302.2 MPa). As compared to raw SB fiber biocomposite, the alkali-treated biocomposite exhibited the lowered water absorption percentages of <2% weight gain after 48 h immersion.