Investigation of Jute/Tetracarpidium conophorum reinforced polypropylene composites for automobile application: Mechanical, wear and flow properties

Abstract

Recent interest in using natural fibers as fillers in various composite materials has sparked the desire of researchers and manufacturing businesses to develop natural fiber composites that may be used as alternative, cheap, sustainable and ecoefficient materials in automobiles. In that respect, the present study was tailored towards harnessing the attractive properties of jute fiber and Tetracarpidium conophorum (African walnut shell particulate) along with thermoplastic “polypropylene”, to develop composite materials with improved properties which can be adopted in automobiles. Alkaline treated African walnut shell particulate (AWSP) and jute fiber were added to polypropylene at a proportion of 2–8 wt% and 5–30 wt% respectively in the presence of 2 wt% maleated polypropylene. Samples were developed at 170 °C and 0.25 kPa pressure, and their mechanical, wear and flow properties were assessed. The result revealed that an improvement of 51.98 %, 42.26 %, 55.23 %, 30.95 %, 54.36 % for flexural strength, tensile strength, impact strength, compressive strength, and hardness respectively. However, a reduction of 380. 48 % and 78.98 % were observed for wear loss and melt flow. The Taguchi Optimization revealed that 2 wt% AWSP and 20 wt% jute fiber addition gave the optimum mechanical performance. The research proved that the hybridization of jute fiber and AWSP resulted in improved polypropylene composites which can be adopted for automobile applications.