Study of the Dielectric Behaviour of Pure Polypropylene (PP) and Polypropylene Banana Fiber (PP-B) Composites

Abstract

This paper reports the dielectric properties of banana fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites. In this research synthetic polymer, polypropylene was used matrix and natural fiber, banana fiber was used as the reinforcing material. Polypropylene [-CH₂-CH₂-CH_2-]n and different fiber content (wt.%) of polypropylene-banana fibers (natural fiber) composites were fabricated using a hot-press moulding system. The short fiber percentages was varied as 0%, 10%, 20%, and 25% with the matrix materials. The optimum fabrication parameters were established (initial pressure, temperature, etc.), and also optimum short fiber percentage was selected. These composite test samples were fabricated so the short fibers were randomly oriented in the matrix. The electrical properties like dielectric constant and dielectric loss tanjent were measured by a dielectric measurement set up. The measurement was performed over a wide range of frequency of 60 Hz to 3 MHz and temperature range from 303K to 383K. The results obtained for the composite varied with the variation of fiber percentage. Experimental results of the dielectic properties of pure polypropylene and polypropylene-natural fiber composites were compared. It has been established that the fabricated composition changes its insulating property after adding the natural fibers. The certain percentage of natural fiber addition gives the better dielectric properties and dialectic tanjent.