Mechanical and Rheological Properties of High Density Polyethylene Reinforced Polyvinyl Alcohol Fiber Composites

Abstract

In the current study, high density polyethylene filled polyvinyl alcohol fiber composites have been made via melt compounding process using a twin screw extruder. Four different fiber loadings (0, 5, 10, 20 wt%) together with HDPE matrix were mixed and melt blended with the extruder. The prepared composites were tested for their melt rheological properties, mechanical properties, FT-IR spectra, and water absorption behavior. Rheological test results exhibited that complex viscosity of the composites were higher than the neat HDPE and increased with the increase of PVA loadings. Moreover, the improvement of complex viscosity was more prominent at higher PVA loadings (i.e. PVAC-10 and PVAC-20) than at the lower one (PVAC-5). The flexural modulus and strength were higher for the all composites samples when compared to the neat HDPE, indicating that the incorporation of PVA fiber has successfully improved the mechanical (i.e. flexural) properties of the HDPE/PVA fiber composites. The FTIR analysis results prevailed the appearance of C=O spectrum at 2361 cm-1 that corresponding to carbonyl bond of PVA fiber on the whole composites. Additionally, from the water uptake test, the degree of water absorption of the composites increased with the fiber loadings.