Abstract
Recently, the growing interests into the environmental matter are driving the research interest to the development of new eco-sustainable composite materials toward the replacement of synthetic reinforcing fibers with natural ones and exploiting the intrinsic recyclability of thermoplastic resins even for uses in which thermosetting matrices are well consolidated (e.g., naval and aeronautical fields). In this work, polypropylene/basalt fabric composite samples were prepared by film stacking and compression molding procedures. They have been studied in terms of flexural and low-velocity impact behavior. The influence related to the matrix modification with a pre-optimized amount of maleic anhydride grafted PP as coupling agent was studied. The mechanical performances of the composite systems were compared with those of laminates consisting of the pure matrix and obtained by hot-pressing of PP pellets and PP films used in the stacking procedure. Results, on one side, demonstrated a slight reduction of both static and dynamic parameters at the break for specimens from superimposed films to ones prepared from PP pellets. Moreover, an outstanding improvement of mechanical performances was shown in the presence of basalt layers, especially for compatibilized samples.
Highlights
The growing diffusion of plastics in all industrial fields and concerns related to their environmental impact and secure disposal at the end of the useful life has been the main reason motivating academic and industrial research towards the study and development of new eco-sustainable materials.So, an increasing interest in natural fibers as polymers reinforcement has been detected
Polypropylene/basalt fabric composite samples were prepared by film stacking and compression molding procedures
The resin was used as received (PP) or pre-modified (PPC) by the inclusion of 2 wt.% of a coupling agent Polybond 3000 (MFI@190 ◦ C, 2.16 kg: 400 g/10 min) from Chemtura (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA). This latter is a polypropylene grafted with maleic anhydride (PP-g-MA) with 1.2 wt.% of MA
Summary
The growing diffusion of plastics in all industrial fields and concerns related to their environmental impact and secure disposal at the end of the useful life has been the main reason motivating academic and industrial research towards the study and development of new eco-sustainable materials. Polypropylene resins, primarily used for mass productions due to their low cost and full versatility in terms of processability and properties, still receive an extraordinary interest with research efforts mainly aimed to improve their performances further and extend their field of application more and more In this regard, Szabo et al [11] demonstrated that the mechanical properties of polypropylene composites packed with different short fibers are strongly affected by the content and direction of the same. The preliminary modification of the matrix to enhance the interfacial adhesion further improves the flexural performances, especially in terms of strength allowing to withstand higher impact loading concerning neat PP based composite laminates Premised that for both investigated composites, no penetration seems to occur and the more significant matrix-reinforcement interaction for compatibilized composite laminamakesmake them less prone to plastic deformations as evidenced by the indentation measurements
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