Effect of Screw Rotation Speed on Mechanical Properties of Extruded PLA/kenaf Nanocomposites

摘要

Extrusion is one of established methods of polymer processing with fibre and consequently disperses fibre inside polymer. Different speed shows different behaviour of fibre dispersion. This study was conducted to produce composites from polylactic acid and kenaf by extrusion method. Kenaf bast and core was undergone chemical treatment with sodium hydroxide (6% w/w) followed by hydrochloric acid. Then, kenaf bast and core was mechanically beaten to reduce the fibre size. PLA and kenaf fibre (bast and core) was mixed by extrusion process with 3 different rotation speeds (60, 70 and 80 rpm). Kenaf bast composite and kenaf core composite was referred as KBC and KCC respectively. Flexural and impact strength was done to investigate the effect of different screw rotation speed on KBC and KCC. KBC and KCC processed with 60 rpm rotation speed shows better performance on flexural strength. For impact strength, KBC with 70 rpm and KCC with 60 rpm rotation speed have higher impact values.