The effects on different date seeds loading and size of LLDPE/Date seeds composites: Flexural properties and impact strength

Abstract

This work evaluated the effect of different loading and size of date seeds (DS) on some mechanical properties of LLDPE/DS composites. Three different size (125 – 250 mm, 250-500 mm, and 500 - 1000 □m) and four different size loading (5, 10, 15, 20 wt%) of DS were used in this work. Flexural and Impact properties were evaluated when DS added to the LLDPE/DS composites. In order to fabricate this composite, the extrusion process followed by injection molding process was used respectively. It is found that the Flexural strength and Flexural modulus decreased with the increasing of date seeds loading in the composites. Furthermore, the Flexural properties of the composite with a coarser size of DS reduced more than other size of DS. The results of the impact strength testing have shown a similar trend of flexural properties. The LLDPE/DS composites at high DS loading show low impact strength (IS) value. Furthermore, the DS coarser size shows lower impact strength than other DS size. The reduction of the mechanical properties in the composites was probably due to the lack of a suitable coupling agent system need to be used to improve the adhesion bonding between filler and matrix.