INVESTIGATING EFFECT OF TREATMENT AND FIBRE LOADING ON TENSILE AND FLEXURAL PROPERTIES OF WATER HYACINTH- LOW DENSITY POLYPROPYLENE (LDPP) REINFORCED COMPOSITE
ADEGBUYI P.A.O, ADEFUYE O.A., OJOMU G.O., OSIFESO A.O
ETRJ. Vol. 7(2), 30 August, 2022
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Abstract: Natural plant fibre reinforced composites have been found to possess mechanical properties comparable to the properties in conventional engineering materials. In this paper, water hyacinth plant, which generally constitutes environmental nuisance to marine and fishing activities was converted to fibre component in composites for economic use; because of its verse availability and low cost of harvest, it reduced cost of materials in fibre reinforced engineering materials when compared to glass or carbon fibres. Composites which consist percentage by weight of water hyacinth (WH) and Low Density Polypropylene (LDPP) were developed. The weights of the composites were in the order of 0, 15, 20, 25, and 30 grams for water hyacinth and 100, 85, 80, 75 and 70 grams percent by weight for low density polypropylene (LDPP) as components correspondingly.
Before the water hyacinth plant was used as component in the composites, it was treated with 0.025 % dilute solution of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) to aid adhesion with the LDPP matrix. This water hyacinth was dried in the sun for ten (10) days and later grinded into powder. This sample was labelled ‘treated sample.’
Also, raw water hyacinth (not treated with sodium hydroxide) was prepared in the same percentages by weights of water hyacinth and LDPP to produce other samples of composite. In this case, these samples were labelled ‘untreated samples’
Composites of the samples were thereafter produced using a 2-roll mill for melting and compounding processes, while a molding machine was used in producing the dumb-bell/rectangular shapes required for mechanical tests.
All composite samples were tested for both tensile and flexural properties using “Instron 3369 Universal Testing Machine. The results showed that samples with treated fibres performed better than others developed with raw water hyacinth.
