Mechanical Performance of Hybrid Rice Straw/Sea Weed Polypropylene Composites

Rice straw (Rs)/polypropylene (PP) composites were prepared in the different ratio of 5 : 95, 10 : 90, 15 : 85, 20 : 80, 25 : 75, and 30 : 70 (Rs wt % : PP wt %) by an injection molding process. This work investigated the tensile strength (TS), bending strength (BS), and impact strength (IS) of the composites. From the results, it is observed that Rs20 : PP80 mixture composite showed better performance with mechanical properties (TS = 26.2 MPa, BS = 58 N/mm(2), and IS = 1.7 KJ/mm(2)) among the composites prepared. Two hybrid composites were also fabricated using 20% Rs, 10% seaweed with 70% PP and 20% Rs, 30% seaweed with 70% PP. In between the two hybrid composites, superior mechanical behavior showed by the hybrid composite in ratio of Rs20 : Sw10 : PP70 with enhanced results such as TS = 28 MPa, BS = 68 N/mm(2), and IS = 2.5 KJ/mm(2). Water uptake, simulating weathering, and soil degradation test of different composites were also performed. (C) 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 120: 1843-1849, 2011