Mechanical, Morphological and Thermal Properties of Alkali Treated Ladies Finger Fiber Reinforced Polypropylene Composites

Abstract

Fiber reinforced polymer composites have played a dominant role for a long time in a variety of applications for their high specific strength and modulus. The fiber which serves as a reinforcement in reinforced plastics may be synthetic or natural. Although glass and other synthetic fiber-reinforced plastics possess high specific strength, their fields of application are very limited because of their inherent higher cost of production. Present research investigated the effect of alkali treatment and loading of ladies finger fiber on mechanical and thermal properties of ladies finger fiber reinforced polypropylene composites. Composites were prepared using compression molding technique. Ladies finger fiber loading were varied at 5, 10 and 15 wt%. Both raw and alkali treated ladies finger fiber were utilized to reinforce polypropylene. Mechanical (tensile, flexural and hardness) and water absorption tests and thermogrvimetric and scanning electron microscopic analysis of the prepared composites were subsequently carried out. Tensile and flexural strength decreased with fiber loading, while opposite trend was observed in case of Young’s modulus, flexural modulus, hardness and water absorption. Alkali treatment of ladies finger enhanced mechanical properties of prepared composites due to better adhesion between the fiber and matrix in treated fiber composites. According to thermogrvimetric analysis, thermal stability of composites increased with fiber loading.