PP-coir Composites (PPCC): Fabrication and Study of Flexural Properties

Md Nazrul Islam,M A Gafur

doi:10.11648/j.mc.20190704.15

Abstract

Today we are more concern about the environment. Synthetic polymers are the most responsible pollutant for environmental pollution. Good replacing agents for the synthetic polymers are the natural polymer. That is why the uses of natural fiber reinforced composites are increasing day-by-day. In this research natural polymer coir fiber was used as the reinforcing agent with the synthetic polymer polypropylene. PP-coir composites were fabricated using a simple hot press molding method. The prepared composites were characterized by the density, tensile, and flexural properties. The effect of fiber addition on some physical and mechanical properties was evaluated. The density increases with the increase of fiber addition. The tensile strength of fabricated product increases with the increase of fiber addition up to 10% (wt.) and then decreases continuously. The elongation of fabricated product decreases with the increase of fiber addition continuously. The changes in the mechanical properties were broadly related to the accompanying interfacial bonding of PP- coir composites (PPCC). It revealed that the introduction of short coir fiber led to a slightly improved thermo oxidative stability of PP- Coir composites. The flexural strain of fabricated product decreases continuously with the increase of fiber addition. But here untreated fiber reinforced composites show higher strain than that of treated fiber reinforced composites.

Highlights

The use of natural fibers, derived from annually renewable source, as reinforcing fibers in both thermoplastic and thermosetting matrix composites provides positive benefits with respect to ultimate disposability and raw material utilization [1,2,3,4,5,6]
The objective of the study is to find out the fabrication process rout, optimize the process parameters and the effect of fiber addition on the flexural properties of coir-PP composites
The effect of fiber addition on flexural strength of PP-coir composites for treated and untreated fiber’s shown in figure 2. It reveals that the flexural strength increases with the increase of fiber addition up to certain percentage of addition coir fiber, afterwards the variation of flexural strength with composition is insignificant up to about 20% for treated fiber, the strength is always higher than that for untreated fiber

Summary

Introduction

The use of natural fibers, derived from annually renewable source, as reinforcing fibers in both thermoplastic and thermosetting matrix composites provides positive benefits with respect to ultimate disposability and raw material utilization [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Coir fiber has received considerable attention for its diversified use both in academic and industrial research Biodegradable plastics such as cellulose-based thermoplastics, aliphatic polyester etc. Have attracted much attention in recent years from the point of view of environmental protection [2, 3] Natural fibers such as jute, coir, palm, banana etc. Are used as an alternative to synthetic fibers e.g. glass, aramid, carbon, etc These fibers are used due to their renewable character, acceptable specific strength properties, low cost, enhanced energy recovery, and biodegradability [7,8,9,10,11,12,13]. Natural plant based lingo-cellulosic fibers are attractive reinforcing materials than the non degradable fibers like glass fiber, carbon fiber and aramid fiber etc [14, 15]. The presence of hydroxyl and polar groups in various constituents of jute accounts for its high moisture region value [4], leads to poor adhesion with the polypropylene

Objectives

Results

Conclusion