Influence of Feather Fiber on the Mechanical Properties of Glass Fiber, Polypropylene Composites

摘要

Poultry farms in the United States produce about two to four billion pounds of feathers annually that are either wasted or processed into protein meal for animal feed. Portions of these feathers are now being processed into fibers with strength and modulus comparable to nylon. The good sound damping, thermal insulating, and biosorption properties of these fibers generates various possible applications for their use. A central composite design of experiments approach was utilized to investigate the influence of feather fiber content on the tensile and flexural properties of polypropylene matrix composites consolidated from prepreg manufactured via a wetlay papermaking process using feather fiber, glass fiber, and polypropylene. Substituting feather fiber for polypropylene was found to slightly reduce tensile and flexural strength and have negligible effect on tensile and flexural modulus. These results are encouraging for the use of waste feather fiber in light-weight, low-load bearing applications.