Mechanical and rheological properties of injection moulded short oil palm fibre reinforced polymer composites
2009
Khairul Zaman Mohd Dahlan | Jalaluddin Harun | Rimfiel Janius | Khalina Abdan | Ansell, M. P. | NorAzowa Ibrahim
Short oil palm fibre was used to reinforce the polypropylene resin and their strength was determined according to the dynamic and static loading. The fibres with less than 1% in moisture content and segregated in three fibre sizes were blended in the internal mixer and the test specimens were fabricated using injection moulding with various fibre contents, up to 50% by weight. The dynamic mechanical properties showed that the increase in fibre content leads to increase in storage modulus. Similar trend is observed for flexural properties; where improvement in flexural propeties are obtained with the increase in fibre contents. The change in viscosities of the composites at different shear rates was examined on the composite blend and the results showed that the viscosity increased as fibre content increased. The panoramic views of scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of injection moulded specimen were examined to observe the fibre dispersions and their orientations. From this study it can be found that short oil palm fibre contributed to the strength of composites. However, the processing condition has to be improved further as the rheological properties highlighted some drawbacks. The SEM micrographs showed a microstructures of oil palm fibre distribution and orientation produced by the injection moulding process.
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