Effect of Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB) Fiber on Mechanical Properties of HDPE/EVA/MMT/EFB Nanohybrid Biocomposite

Abstract

This work study the effect of empty fruit bunch (EFB) fiber on mechanical properties (tensile, flexural and impact) of different formulation of HDPE/EVA/MMT/EFB nanohybrid biocomposite with present of 1.5 phr compatibilizer. The ratio of HDPE and EVA are fixed at 80 wt% and 20 wt% respectively. However, the nanoclay montmorillonite (MMT) was varied from 0, 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 phr. Meanwhile EFB fiber was varied from 0, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 wt%. The HDPE/EVA/MMT/EFB blends were prepared by melt extrusion blending technique using a single screw extruder. Generally, the result found that by increasing of EFB fiber content, the tensile strength of HDPE/EVA/MMT/EFB nanohybrid biocomposite was declined. The highest tensile strength was given by formulation of HDPE/EVA/1 phr MMT without EFB fiber loading which is 29.064 MPa. Meanwhile the lowest tensile strength is given by formulation of HDPE/EVA/0.5 phr MMT with 50 wt% of EFB fiber which is 9.673 MPa. Similar trend also showed by the result of flexural strength obtained. In contrast, the value of tensile modulus is progressively increased with further increasing of EFB fiber content. The highest tensile modulus given by formulation of HDPE/EVA/1 phr MMT with reinforced of 50 wt% EFB fiber loading (694.53 MPa) whereas the lowest is given by HDPE/EVA/0.5 phr MMT with 10 wt% EFB fiber loading (290.76 MPa). Similar trend for the flexural modulus where further increasing of EFB fiber content, the flexural modulus is directly increasing. Unfortunately, for impact properties, reinforced of EFB fiber give resulted on the reduction of impact strength.