Abstract
Polymer products have been applied in all spheres of life and their disposal after use has been a problem. In Ghana, non-biodegradable polymer products in the form of used water-sachet bags is littered everywhere. Coconut husk, which is a natural fiber, is also available as waste. We explore a means of recycling sachet-water bags and coconut husk to yield a useful product. A composite was formed by melting the polyethylene, into which was dispersed coconut fiber, and then allowed to set. Varied masses of fiber were added after which water absorption test, hardness/compressive and flexure tests were conducted on the composite product. The absorption rate of the composite increased with increasing composition of fiber, meaning that the porosity of the material was influenced by the amount of fiber. Increasing the fiber content increased the load needed to compress the sample, indicating an increase in the strength of the composite. The load-bearing capacity increased by 120 % when 450.5 g of fiber was added to the control sample, and further increased to 800 % when the fiber mass was increased to 804.4 g. With an amount of 100 g of fiber added to the polyethylene, the flexure increased by about 5.73 % and by about 31.46 % when 450 g of fiber was added. There was therefore improvement in the mechanical properties of the composite formed, and consequently such waste products can be put to use in applications like the production of ceilings, partition boards, automobile interiors and the likes.
Highlights
The engineering world today is characterized by the recycling, discovering and engineering of new materials from everyday convectional materials such as metals, ceramics and polymers (Camann, Dragsbaek, Krol, Sandgren, & Song, 2011)
They realized that natural fiber composites were potentially environmentally superior, with their production having relatively lower environmental impacts as compared to glass fiber production
We considered the test composite to be structured as 30 wt% coconut fiber and 70 wt % polyethylene
Summary
The engineering world today is characterized by the recycling, discovering and engineering of new materials from everyday convectional materials such as metals, ceramics and polymers (Camann, Dragsbaek, Krol, Sandgren, & Song, 2011). Plastics have become the ideal material choice for many applications (Hull &Clyne, 1981) They can be molded into varied shapes and as such, perfect for packaging food, drinks and virtually all products. The study by Joshi et al (2004) investigated the life cycle of natural fiber and glass fiber in relation to key drivers compared to their environmental performance. They realized that natural fiber composites were potentially environmentally superior, with their production having relatively lower environmental impacts as compared to glass fiber production. According to (Geethamma, Kalaprasad, Gabriel, &Sabu, 2005), several groups have successfully tested coir fiber polyester composites being used in the fabrication of helmet, roofing sheets and post boxes eer.ccsenet.org
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
