Mechanical Properties of Palm Fibre Reinforced Recycled HDPE

Abstract

Recently, recycled thermoplastic polymers become an alternative resource for manufacturing industrial products. However, they have low mechanical properties compared to the thermosets. In this paper, an attempt has been made to enhance the mechanical properties of recycled high density polyethylene (HDPE) with chopped strand mat (CSM) glass fibres as a synthetic reinforcement and with short oil palm fibres as a biodegradable (natural) reinforcement. The effects of volume fraction of both synthetic and natural fibres on tensile, compression, hardness, and flexural properties of the HDPE were investigated. The failure mechanism of the composite was studied with the aid of optical microscopy. Tensile properties of the HDPE composites are greatly affected by the weight fraction of both the synthetic and the natural fibres. The higher strength of the composites was exhibited when at higher weight fraction of both natural and syntactic fibres which was about 50 MPa. Date palm fibre showed good interfacial adhesion to the HDPE despite the untreated condition used. On the other hand, treatment of the fibres is recommended for higher tensile performance of the composites.

Correlation between Mechanical Properties with Specific Wear Rate and the Coefficient of Friction of Graphite/Epoxy Composites

“…In the last two decades, Polymer composites have been used in a wide variety of industrial applications, such as automobiles, furniture, and construction [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. This is mainly due to their advantages compared to metal materials, such as their lower cost, low density, chemical resistance, high strength-to-weight ratio, less damage to processing equipment, and good relative mechanical properties [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 ]. In addition to the advantages of natural fibers, as an alternative option to synthetic fibers, date palm trees are spread widely throughout many areas, such as the Middle East, Northern Africa, India, and in the United States, and in large numbers.…”

Effect of UV-Radiation On Fatigue Behaviour of Natural Composite Materials

“…The study in [10] used micro mechanical theory is applied on the experimental accelerating weathering test, which results in the pure resin to predict the glass-resin properties. Based on the theory, the UV-radiation effect on the fiber glass-resin composite was calculated.…”

Trial Examination of Synthetic Polymer as Shear Reinforcement

“…Polymer reinforced polymer (FRP) composites as shear reinforcement increases strength, stiffness and reduces the corrosion [4]. [5] Studied the use of recycled thermoplastic polymer and natural polymer, palm as synthetic reinforcement. [15] Studied the steel reinforced polymer (SRP) composite materials are more sensitive to fatigue performance of reinforced concrete.…”