Composite materials are characterized by several physical
and mechanical properties that make them without rival in some applications
requiring low weight and suitable strength. The interest in natural fibers
reinforced composite materials is due to their environmental benefits, reduced
industrial raw material consumption, and low cost. The objective of the present
work entails the preparation of PP-LLDPE - Coconut shell powder composite
materials, the determination of their optimal preparation conditions and the
characterization of their physical and mechanical properties. Composite
material samples were prepared by melt mixing the batch constituents in the
internal mixer chamber at 170 ºC and 50-rpm rotation speed and pressing the
mixed batch at 170 ºC and 20 tons pressure. The specific weight of PP-LLDPE
blends was determined using the Archimedes method, and their mechanical
characterization was based on tensile tests on standard specimens.
Measured specific weight values of PP-LLDPE blends fall
between those of PP and LLDPE and follow nearly the rule of mixture. Specific
weight results for PP-LLDPE blends comply with minor porosity of less than 1%.
The optimal conditions for the preparation of PP-LLDPE- Coconut shell powder
composite materials were batch mixing at 170 ºC and 50-rpm rotation speed and
batch pressing at 170 ºC and 20 tons pressure. Tensile results for PP-LLDPE
blends showed improvement of tensile stress and Young modulus and a decrease of
elongation at break with the increase of PP content. The addition of Coconut
shell powder to PP-LLDPE blends induces a gradual decrease in tensile stress
and elongation at break and a gradual increase in Young modulus. Tensile
results confirmed also that coconut shell powder content could be increased up
to 50 wt. % while preserving a suitable range of mechanical properties where
tensile strength varied between 10- 30 MPa. This confirms the possibility of
varying these composite constituents according to the requirement of the
envisaged application without coconut shell powder treatment, using
compatibilizers and interfacial promoting bonding agents (silane compounds)
between this powder and PP-LLDPE polymer blends.
Author(s) Details
Al Sara Kenan
Department of Physics, Higher Institute for Applied Science
and Technology (HIAST), Syria.
Jabrah Rafi
Department of Physics, Higher Institute for Applied Science
and Technology (HIAST), Syria.
Al Deri Fawaz
Chemistry Department, Damascus University, Syria.
Please see the book here:- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/cmsdi/v4/6888E
No comments:
Post a Comment