Enhancing the impact and flexural strength of PP/LLDPE/TiO2/SEBS nano-composites by using Taguchi methodology

The present study was an attempt to maximize the impact and flexural strength of polypropylene/linear low-density polyethylene/nano-titanium dioxide/styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene (PP/LLDPE/TiO2/SEBS) nano-composites simultaneously by optimizing the LLDPE, TiO2, and SEBS. An L9 orthogonal array of Taguchi method was used for the experimental design to extract the optimal level of parameters by signal to noise (S/N) ratio. The S/N ratios results were then investigated by grey relational analysis (GRA) in order to determine optimal condition of the impact and flexural strength. Simultaneous enhancement of the impact and flexural strength was achieved by 33.85% under optimal condition, i.e. 40 wt% LLDPE, 2 wt% TiO2 and 6 wt% SEBS. The effectiveness of the proposed approach was demonstrated through confirmation tests at the optimal levels of parameters. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.