Effect of Mercerized Banana Fiber on the Mechanical and Morphological Characteristics of Organically Modified Fiber-Reinforced Polypropylene Nanocomposites

Abstract

Natural fiber-reinforced polypropylene (PP) nanocomposites at different weight percentages of fiber content were fabricated using a Haake twin screw extruder, followed by compression molding with the presence maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene (MA-g-PP) as a compatibilizer. Incorporation of both the fibers and nanoclay into PP matrix resulted in an increase in mechanical properties with an increasing level of fiber content up to 30 wt% and 3 wt% of nanoclay with 5 wt% of compatibilizer. The morphology of the fiber-reinforced PP-nanocomposites has been examined by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), respectively.