scholarly journals Thermo-Mechanical and Morphological Properties of Water Hyacinth Reinforced Polypropylene Composites

Author(s):  
Manabendra Saha ◽  
Ali Md. Afsar

This paper focusses on the analysis of thermo-mechanical and morphological properties of water hyacinth (WH) fiber reinforced polypropylene (PP) biocomposites manufactured by using a single screw extruder and an injection molding machine. With a view to increasing the compatibility between the WH fibers and polypropylene matrix, raw WH fibers were chemically treated with Benzenediazonium salt in base media. Composites were manufactured with five different levels of loading (15, 20, 25, 30 and 35 wt%) of both the raw and treated WH fibers. Thermal properties of WH-PP composites were evaluated by thermogravimetric and differential thermal analyses. To analyze mechanical properties of composites, tests of tensile strength and stiffness, flexural strength and stiffness, and Charpy impact strength were carried out following ASTM standards. It was found that thermal stability and all the mechanical properties except tensile strength were improved considerably for chemically treated WH fiber composites in comparison with untreated ones. Fracture surfaces of the tensile and flexural specimens were scanned with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to understand their surface morphologies. The SEM images clearly revealed that there were fewer fiber agglomerations, microvoids, and fiber pull out traces in treated WH-PP composites than in the untreated ones indicating better distribution of the fibers into the matrix as well as stronger fiber matrix interfacial adhesion due to treatment of WH fibers. Water absorption properties were studied to evaluate the viability of these biocomposites under specified conditions.

Author(s):  
Ali J Salman ◽  
Ali Assim Al-Obaidi ◽  
Dalya H Al-Mamoori ◽  
Lina M Shaker ◽  
Ahmed A Al-Amiery

Abstract The polyurethane (PU) has been showing a dramatic increase in applications related to material science and technology. However, the mechanical, physical and thermal properties could be further improved by loading PU with zirconia (Zr) to create renewable materials known as polyurethane–zirconia (PUZ) composites. In this study, PU matrix was treated with wt.% Zr at 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0. In this study, the thermo-mechanical properties and the morphology were investigated of PU and PUZ nano-samples. The images of the scanning electron microscope (SEM) were the prime tool in investigating PU and PUZ surfaces and fractured surfaces showing vanishing the cracks and formation of agglomeration on the sample PUZ-1.5%. In addition, the tensile strength, Young’s modulus and maximum loading were improved by 36.7, 31.8 and 39.1%, respectively, at Zr loading of 1.5 wt.%. The flexural stress and the load were improved by 94.3% and 93.6%, respectively, when Zr loading was 1.5 wt.%. The impact without and with a notch was improved by 110.7% and 62.6%, respectively, at Zr loading of 1.5 wt.%. The the morphologies of the PU surface and Zr surface supported by SEM images. Regarding the storage modulus ability of PU and PUZ composites, Zr loading has negatively influenced E. The E functioning temperature was observed to move from 142 to 183°C. Another effect was determined by adding a small amount of Zr. This small amount was enough to shift the crystallization temperature (${T}_c$) and the melting temperature (${T}_m$) of PU from 125 to 129°C and from 150 to 144°C, respectively.


2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (24) ◽  
pp. 20-24
Author(s):  
Ali Al-Zubiedy ◽  
Ruaa M. Muneer

Abstract This is a study of a medical injection factory-Babylon carried out in order to achieve proper mechanical and morphological properties, PP has been injection molded by using cold runner injection molding machine with temperature variation (198, 200, 203……220°C) for ten samples. The physical and mechanical properties of PP product were examined. It has been found that the Shore hardness decreases linearly with injection molding temperature increasing. The tensile strength has a similar behavior to the hardness. However, it has been found that the MIF (Melt Index Flow) rates increases with the increase of injection molding temperature. The density of PP has been found for both virgin PP and the samples, it has been found that the density decreases with increasing operation temperature. FTIR (Fourier Transmission Infrared) spectra were taken for both samples with high and low operation temperature. Besides the SEM (Scanning Electronic Microscopy) test shows the difference in the morphology of the product surface and the PP product at high and low operation temperature. Moreover, for all these properties, the PP product exhibits good mechanical properties (hardness, tensile strength, density) for the samples produced at temperature lower than 207°C. While the physical properties such as MIF improved with injection temperature increasing, additionally, the SEM images show that the sample produced in low temperature have surface damage.


1998 ◽  
Vol 520 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. H. Zhang ◽  
K. C. Gong

ABSTRACTHybrids of quaternary ammonium-modified montmorillonites and polypropylene were prepared by melting intercalation. Results of mechanical property measurements show that, tensile strength, modulus and impact strength of PP composites are greatly enhanced simultaneously by a small addition amount of modified montmorillonites.


2011 ◽  
Vol 477 ◽  
pp. 274-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Xu ◽  
Lin Hua Jiang ◽  
Hong Qiang Chu ◽  
Lei Chen

In this study, the effects of fiber types on the mechanical properties of lightweight aggregate concretes were investigated. Three types of fibers, namely, polypropylene fiber, steel fiber and water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) fiber, and two types of lightweight aggregates, namely, expanded polystyrene and ceramsite were used. The compressive strength and splitting tensile strength of concretes were tested. The results show that both the compressive strength and the splitting tensile strength were improved by adding a reasonable volume of steel fiber and polypropylene fiber into LWAC. The addition of water hyacinth fiber had little effect on the compressive strength of LWAC, while a little increase was observed in the splitting tensile strength.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Sahari ◽  
M. A. Maleque

The mechanical properties of oil palm shell (OPS) composites were investigated with different volume fraction of OPS such as 0%, 10%, 20%, and 30% using unsaturated polyester (UPE) as a matrix. The results presented that the tensile strength and tensile modulus of the UPE/OPS composites increased as the OPS loading increased. The highest tensile modulus of UPE/OPS was obtained at 30 vol% of OPS with the value of 8.50 GPa. The tensile strength of the composites was 1.15, 1.17, and 1.18 times higher than the pure UPE matrix for 10, 20, and 30 vol% of OPS, respectively. The FTIR spectra showed the change of functional group of composites with different volume fractions of OPS. SEM analysis shows the filler pull-out present in the composites which proved the poor filler-matrix interfacial bonding.


Molecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (14) ◽  
pp. 3236
Author(s):  
Peng Yin ◽  
Wen Zhou ◽  
Xin Zhang ◽  
Bin Guo ◽  
Panxin Li

In order to improve the mechanical properties and water resistance of thermoplastic starch (TPS), a novel reinforcement of dialdehyde lignocellulose (DLC) was prepared via the oxidation of lignocellulose (LC) using sodium periodate. Then, the DLC-reinforced TPS composites were prepared by an extrusion and injection process using glycerol as a plasticizer. The DLC and LC were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the effects of DLC content on the properties of the DLC/TPS composites were investigated via the evaluation of SEM images, mechanical properties, thermal stability, and contact angles. XRD showed that the crystallinity of the DLC decreased due to oxidation damage to the LC. SEM showed good dispersion of the DLC in the continuous TPS phase at low amounts of DLC, which related to good mechanical properties. The tensile strength of the DLC/TPS composite reached a maximum at a DLC content of 3 wt.%, while the elongation at break of the DLC/TPS composites increased with increasing DLC content. The DLC/TPS composites had better thermal stability than the neat TPS. As the DLC content increased, the water resistance first increased, then decreased. The highest tensile strength and elongation at break reached 5.26 MPa and 111.25%, respectively, and the highest contact angle was about 90.7°.


2020 ◽  
Vol 990 ◽  
pp. 262-266
Author(s):  
Prathumrat Nu-Yang ◽  
Atiwat Wiriya-Amornchai ◽  
Jaehoon Yoon ◽  
Chainat Saechau ◽  
Poom Rattanamusik

Thermoplastic vulcanizates or TPVs is a type of materials exhibiting excellent properties between thermoplastic and elastomer by combining the characteristics of vulcanized rubber with the processing properties of thermoplastics. This research aims to study the effect of thermal aging on the morphology and mechanical properties of thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPVs) based on a mixture of natural rubber (NR) and polystyrene (PS). TPVs samples were prepared using the internal mixer at a mass ratio of NR/PS 70/30, 50/50, 30/70 and 0/100. Tensile properties and impact strength showed that when the amount of NR increased tends of impact strength and elongation at break increased but tends of tensile strength decreased. On the other hand, tends of tensile strength for thermal aging at 70°C for 3 days increased when the amount of PS increase. The blending ratio of NR / PS at 70/30 is the best. It gave a worthy increase from 19.94 MPa to be 25.56 MPa (28.18%).


2008 ◽  
Vol 55-57 ◽  
pp. 389-392
Author(s):  
Supreyak Kumfu ◽  
Wim Nhuapeng ◽  
Wandee Thamjaree ◽  
Tawee Tunkasiri

Aramid/Al2O3/epoxy resin laminated composites were fabricated using ultrasonic mixing and casting technique. This novo material could be exhibited to the ideal mechanical properties such as high tensile strength, hardness, flexural strength and lightweight which may be used to replace metal parts in vehicles. Moreover, Al2O3 powder was mixed to epoxy resin to improve the scratch resistance. To improve the bending force and interaction between Al2O3 powder phase and epoxy resin phase, the ultrasonic mixing was used for fabricating these laminate composites. The physicals and mechanical properties such as density, hardness, impact test, wear resistance and tensile strength of the composites samples were investigated. It was found that the amounts of percent by volume of the Al2O3 have affected the properties of the laminated composites. Furthermore, microstructures of specimens were also investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM). From the results, SEM images showed good distribution and adhesion between reinforced phase and epoxy resin matrix phase.


2019 ◽  
Vol 956 ◽  
pp. 229-236
Author(s):  
Jian Lin Xu ◽  
Zhou Chen ◽  
Lei Niu ◽  
Cheng Hu Kang ◽  
Xiao Qi Liu

In this paper, Sb2O3/PP composite specimens were prepared by ball milling and melt blending. The effects of Sb2O3 particle size and filling amount on the toughening, reinforcing effect and crystallinity of PP composites were analyzed by notch impact test, tensile test, SEM, XRD and DSC characterization. The experimental results show that the filling of Sb2O3 particles can improve the mechanical properties and crystallization properties of Sb2O3/PP composites. With the increase of filling amount of Sb2O3 particles, the tensile strength and impact strength of Sb2O3/PP composite increased first and then decreased. When the content of Sb2O3 is 2 wt.%, the tensile strength and impact strength of Sb2O3/PP composites reach the maximum. When the filling amount is the same, the crystallization and mechanical properties of nanoSb2O3/PP composites are better than those of micron Sb2O3/PP composites.


2011 ◽  
Vol 217-218 ◽  
pp. 347-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chun Xia He ◽  
Jun Jun Liu ◽  
Pan Fang Xue ◽  
Hong Yan Gu

The influence of the rice husks powder (RHP) content and its particle size distribution on the composite’s tensile strength, fracturing elongation ratio, flexural strength and flexural elastic modulus has been investigated. Respective water absorption and thermal properties of PP composites incorporated with different proportion of RHP have also been analyzed. The microstructure of fractured surfaces was further observed in scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed that the composites with RHP of 245 μm have higher mechanical properties. The tensile strength and fracturing elongation ratio decrease with the increase of RHP content, and reach peak values in 30% RHP content. Water absorption and volume expansion ratio of the composite increase with the increasing of RHP content. Flexural strength and flexural modulus decrease after water absorption. When PHR content is low, the RHP particles are well distributed and the interface of RHP and PP is smooth. When PHR content is higher, the RHP particles tend to agglomerate, leading to poorer interface and lower mechanical properties, the composite failed with brittle fracture.


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