Mechanical Behavior of Agro-Residue-Reinforced Polypropylene Composites

In this research, fully environment-friendly, sustainable and biodegradable composites were fabricated, using wheat straw and rice husk as reinforcements for thermoplastics, as an alternative to wood fibers. Mechanical properties including tensile, flexural, and impact strength properties were examined as a function of the amount of fiber and coupling agent used. In the sample preparation, three levels of fiber loading (30, 40, and 50 wt %) and two levels of coupling agent content (0 and 2 wt %) were used. As the percentage of fiber loading increased, flexural and tensile properties increased significantly. Notched Izod results showed a decrease in strength as the percentage of fiber increases. With addition of 50%, fiber, the impact strengths decreased to 1.6.3, 1.4.4, and 1.6.4 J/m respectively, for wheat straw-, rice husk-, and poplar-filled composites. In general, presence of coupling agent had a great effect on the mechanical strength properties. Wheat straw- and rice husk-filled composites showed an increase in the tensile and flexural properties with the incorporation of the coupling agent. From these results, we can conclude that wheat straw and rice husk fibers can be potentially suitable raw materials for manufacturing biocomposite products. (C) 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 111: 2616-2620, 2009