Structural, thermal, mechanical and physical properties of Washingtonia filifera fibres reinforced thermoplastic biocomposites
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2022
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The use of plant fibres, including those of Washingtonia filifera (WF), offers many advantages, such as being an
ecological resource, they require low energy input in their manufacture and can be disposed of by composting at
the end of their life cycle. In this work, we studied the mechanical, thermal and physical behaviour of WF fibres
reinforced High Density Polyethylene (WFRHDPE) biocomposites with different mass ratios of WF fibres (10%,
20% and 30%) produced by injection moulding technique. The characterization of these novel biocomposites
was carried out by using advanced equipment such as DSC-TGA, FTIR, XRD, SEM, universal testing machine, and
Izod tester. The obtained results show that adding WF fibres to neat HDPE improves tensile and flexural prop-
erties but slightly reduces impact resistance. Moreover, the thermal results analysis revealed that the rein-
forcement by WF fibres with up to 20% in the HDPE matrix mass, decreased the melting temperature leading to
rapid degradation of the biocomposite compared to that of the neat HDPE. It was concluded that WFRHDPE
biocomposites with 20% of the mass ratio of WF fibres display good mechanical and thermal properties as
compared with 30% WF based composites whereas thermomechanical properties decreased. WF fibre has great
potential for engineering applications such as construction and furniture.
Description
Keywords
Citation
18