The Effect of Water Absorption on Mechanical Properties of Wood Flour/Wheat Husk Polypropylene Hybrid Composites

Pradeep Upadhyaya, Manoj Garg, Vijai Kumar, Ajay K. Nema

Central Institute of Plastic Engineering and Technology, Bhopal, India.
Central Institute of Plastic Engineering and Technology, Lucknow, India.

DOI: 10.4236/msa.2012.35047                

Abstract

The main objectives of this research were to study the effect of water absorption on mechanical properties of hybrid fiber reinforcement for polypropylene composites. The poor resistance towards water absorption is one of the draw- backs of natural fibers. Hybrid filler-polypropylene composites are subjected to water immersion tests in order to study the effects of water absorption on the mechanical properties. Composites specimens containing 30 phr and 40 phr fiber weight were prepared by melt blending process. Water absorption tests were conducted by immersion specimens in distilled water at room temperature for different time durations (24, 48, 72, 96, 120, 144, 168, 192 hours). The tensile, flexural and impact properties were investigated before and after water absorption. The percentage of moisture uptake increased as the increasing order of the filler loading due to the high cellulose content. The phase morphology of wood flour/wheat husk polypropylene hybrid composites were investigated by SEM, the dynamic mechanical properties of the composite are analyzed by DMA & wheat, wood filler interaction are analyzed by FT-IR.

Keywords

Hybrid Polypropylene Composites; Water Absorption; Mechanical Properties

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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