Physical and Morphological Properties of filled Calcium Carbonate/ Kenaf fibre/ Rice husk Polypropylene Hybrid Composite

Polypropylene (PP) hybrid composite comprising sustainable fillers namely lignocellulosic kenaf fiber and rice husk fillers were compounded along with fixed calcium carbonate (CaCO3) were investigated in this study. The hybrid composite employed kenaf filler with the size of 2000 mesh were mixed at variable ratios of kenaf fiber (KF) and rice husk (RH) particulates with fixed 20% of CaCO3 and PP as matrix. The effect of lignocellulosic fillers for both kenaf fiber and rice husk particulate incorporated CaCO3/PP hybrid composite on the physical properties such as the density and water absorption properties and their morphology were investigated. Morphological observation of the fractured hybrid composite surface was studied using Field Emission Scanning Microscope (FESEM). Ilybrid composite was found that a higher density of hybrid composite was observed as higher ratios of rice husk were incorporated and overall density range observed were within 1.22 - 1.25 g/cm(3). Water absorption immersion in water at room temperature analyses showed that higher kenaf and lower rice rusk ratios exhibited higher water absorption than higher rice husk and lower kenaf ratio with least and highest water absorption for 10 % KF with 30 % RH and 35 % KF with 5 % RH ratios respectively. FESEM microscopy images confirmed the particulate interaction between 10% KF And 30% RH of the hybrid matrix. Interactions between RH and KF particulate are defined by the cellulose intertwined which efficiently filled the available matrices of the hybrid composite.