Impact Strength Of Biocomposites Research Articles

Study on Mechanical, Thermal and Morphological Properties of Banana Fiber-Reinforced Epoxy Composites

In recent decades, engineering applications involving polymer composites reinforced with natural fibers have increased significantly due to the advantages not only of favorable composite properties but also of fiber durability and environmental friendly nature. In the present work composites reinforced with upto 20 wt% fabric made of banana, a relatively known natural fiber from India. These banana fibers were cut into a similar average length of 10 and 20 mm and two sets of bio-composites were prepared by compression moulding process with varying weight percentage of epoxy resin by 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20%. Experimental results showed tensile, flexural and impact strength of bio-composites with up to 15 wt% has increased compared with neat epoxy. However, the mechanical strength has decreased above 15 wt% fiber reinforcement. This is a study of thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) that banana fiber-reinforced composites have high thermal stability up to 220 oC.

The Effect of Kenaf Loading on Water Absorption and Impact Properties of Polylactic Acid/ Natural Rubber/ Kenaf Core Powder Biocomposite

Abstract Polylactic acid (PLA)/natural rubber (NR)/ kenaf core powder (KF) biocomposite was prepared via melt blending in internal mixer followed by hot pressed. The loading of kenaf was varied at five different loadings (0 phr, 5 phr, 10 phr, 15 phr, 20 phr). Kenaf core powder is gradually added to study the effect of kenaf loading on the biocomposite based on water absorption and impact properties. Water absorption percentages of biocomposite increased with increasing kenaf loading attributed from the hydrophilicity of kenaf itself. Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) was utilized to study the impact fractured surface and filler-matrix adhesion. Addition of kenaf core powder was found to deteriorate the impact strength of biocomposite due to poor interfacial adhesion as proven by FESEM micrograph.

An experimental investigation and optimization on the impact strength of kenaf fiber biocomposite: application of response surface methodology

A big scientific challenge of biocomposites is in improving impact strength. Thus, the key aspect of the present study is in investigating an in-depth statistical approach on influence of processing parameters on the impact strength of the biocomposite. Natural fiber biocomposites, consisting of polypropylene (PP) and kenaf as natural fiber, were produced using melt blending. The simultaneous effects of different parameters including kenaf fiber loading, fiber length and polypropylene-grafted maleic anhydride (PP-g-MA) compatibilizer content on the impact strength have been evaluated. Response surface methodology (RSM) based on Box–Behnken design (BBD) was used to design the experiments. The optimum impact strength of 30.76 j/m was obtained with kenaf fiber loading of 26.77 wt%, fiber length of 6.09 mm and PP-g-MA content of 5 wt%. The biocomposites prepared with optimum levels of fabrication process parameters that were obtained using the response surface graph and models, had a 19% increase in impact strength than pure PP. Among the selected processing parameters, fiber loading has a most significant effect on the impact strength of the biocomposites. The thermal behavior of the kenaf fiber was evaluated from TGA/DTG thermograms. The fiber-matrix morphology in the treated biocomposites with PP-g-MA was confirmed by SEM analysis of the fractured specimens. FTIR spectra of the biocomposite with and without PP-g-MA were also studied to ascertain the existence of type of interfacial bonds. Finally, the crystallinity of PP and the biocomposites were also studied through DSC measurements.

Biocomposites of Poly(Lactic Acid) and Cellulose Nanofibers from Cassava Pulp

Cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) were used as biobased fillers to prepare poly(lactic acid) (PLA)-based biocomposites. Cellulose nanofibers were extracted from cassava pulp (CP) by acid hydrolysis method. Before submitted to acid treatment, CP was pre-treated by alkali and bleaching treatments. The biocomposites were prepared by melt mixing, followed by hot melt pressing. In order to improve the compatibility of CNFs with PLA matrix, glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) grafted poly (lactic acid) (PLA-g-GMA) was used as a compatibilizer. PLA-g-GMA was prepared by grafting of GMA onto PLA chain via melt mixing using an internal mixer. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) micrograph shows that most nanofibers with the diameter in the range of 10-30 nm and immeasurable length were obtained. The appearance of two new peaks at 49.07 and 44.71 ppm in the carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance (13C-NMR) spectrum of PLA-g-GMA, which represent the carbons of the epoxy group of GMA, confirms that GMA was successfully grafted onto PLA chain. The morphology of biocomposites, characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), reveals that without using PLA-g-GMA, the poor dispersion of CNFs in PLA matrix was observed. In contrast to that, with using PLA-g-GMA, the dispersion of CNFs in PLA matrix was improved. Moreover, the impact strength results show that by incorporating 1.0 wt% CNFs into PLA matrix and using PLA-g-GMA as a compatibilizer, the impact strength of biocomposites was slightly enhanced compared to that of pure PLA.

Fabrication and characterization of dental mirror product using polylactic acid biocomposites

ABSTRACTPolylactic acid biocomposites were prepared by mixing castor oil and talc by melt blending using twin-screw extruder. The amount of talc and castor oil was fixed at 20 and 1 wt%, respectively. The biocomposites were analyzed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, impact strength, bioactivity, cytotoxicity, and soil burial tests. Using biocomposites, mouth mirror product was fabricated for oral dental application using injection molding machine. The impact strength of biocomposites increases by 56% than neat polylactic acid. Bioactivity and cytotoxicity tests of the biocomposites prove that they have no toxicity and the product can be used for oral dental application.

Preparation and morphological, thermal, and physicomechanical properties of polypropylene‐potato peel biocomposites

ABSTRACTPotato peel powder (POPL), which is biodegradable, has been used as filler material in polypropylene (PP) matrix in varying concentration from 10 to 40% by weight to prepare biocomposites and investigated water absorption, physicomechanical and thermal properties. Scanning electron microscopy and X‐ray diffraction has been used for morphological characterization and crystallization studies. Flexural modulus of biocomposites increased by 40% compared with neat PP at 30% loading of POPL. Flexural strength also increased with increasing filler loading. Tensile strength of biocomposites has been observed to be comparable with neat PP up to 20% filler loading and increase in tensile modulus up to 40% was seen in biocomposites with 20% filler loading. Impact strength of biocomposites up to 20% filler loading was found to be at par with neat PP. Use of MA‐g‐PP compatibilizer in the biocomposites yielded better physico‐mechanical and thermal properties than biocomposites without compatibilizer. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015, 132, 42445.

Thermorheological and mechanical properties of cellulose reinforced PLA bio-composites

Cellulose fibers reinforced polylactic acid (PLA) bio-composites were developed by means of extrusion and injection molding process. The thermal properties of the developed bio-composites were investigated by thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA). TGA results provided an upper limit of thermal processing window. The rheological properties of bio-composites showed shear thinning behavior and predicted a suitable temperature profile for processing the bio-composites. Heat distortion temperature of PLA/wood fibers (WP)/bioadimide bio-composites was slightly improved which could result in high temperature service life. Good interaction between short fibers and PLA resulted in better mechanical properties. With the addition of 1.3% bioadimide (bio-additive), tensile strength of bio-composites increased significantly. The impact strength of bio-composites was also considerably increased due to addition of bio-additive with bio-composites. This novel bio-additive was found very effective not only for fiber–matrix adhesion but also processability of bio-composites. X-ray computed tomography (CT) demonstrated cellulose fibers orientation and the fiber–matrix networking microstructures in a composite system.

The Effects of Antioxidants Content on Mechanical Properties and Water Absorption Behaviour of Biocomposites Prepared by Single Screw Extrusion Process

The performance of hybrid fillers between rice husk and sawdust filled recycled high density polyethylene (rHDPE) with the presence of antioxidants (IRGANOX 1010 and IRGAFOS 169, with the ratio of 1 : 1) was investigated. The biocomposites with 30 wt% of matrix and around 70 wt% of hybrid fillers (rice husk and sawdust) and different antioxidants’ contents (0 to 0.7 wt%) were prepared with single screw extruder. Increasing the amount of antioxidants in biocomposites reduced the modulus of elasticity and modulus of rupture on flexural testing. The addition of antioxidants increased the tensile and impact strength of biocomposites. From the study, samples with 0.5 wt% of antioxidants produce the most reasonable strength and elasticity of biocomposites. Furthermore, the effect of antioxidants content on water uptake was minimal. This might be caused by the enhanced interfacial bonding between the polymer matrix and hybrid fillers, as shown from the morphology by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM).