Flexural Characteristics and Impact Rupture Stress Investigations of Sustainable Green Olive Leaves Bio-composite Materials

Abstract

The desired features of the green composite materials including the low cost, environmentally friendly and degradation characteristics have made them very suitable for wide industrial applications. However, wide extensive investigations about various agro waste fibers are still required to expand the utilization of such fibers into green materials to enhance the overall desired properties of green composites. Thus, in this work, investigations of the effects of fiber loading of olive fibers in the low density polyethylene (LDPE) green composites were carried out. The overall bio-composite flexural properties and rupture stress under impact environment were studied. All of the applied force, flexural strain, flexural strength, flexural moduli and maximum stress at fracture under impact environment of various designed composites were studied to determine the optimal reinforcing conditions of such green composites. Various composites with different fiber loading (20 wt%, 30 wt%, 40 wt%, and 50 wt%) were designed and fabricated to investigate the effect of fibers on the considered properties of the composites. Results have revealed the optimum reinforcing conditions to enhance the overall flexural property of the composites. The maximum flexural strength of the green bio-composites with various fiber loadings was found at the 40 wt% fiber content case with 34.6 MPa. It was also shown that both 30 wt% and 40 wt% fiber loading cases had the highest flexural moduli of more than 800 MPa. All of flexural strength, flexural modulus and impact rupture stress properties were dramatically enhanced with fiber loading up to 40 wt%, but decreased after that due to agglomeration of fibers. Moreover, olive fibers were capable of improving the flexural modulus of LDPE of more than 200%.