Engineered natural fiber reinforced polypropylene composites: influence of surface modifications and novel powder impregnation processing

摘要

Environmentally-benign powder impregnation processing is adopted in fabricating biocomposites from chopped natural fibers and powder polypropylene. The surface modifications of natural fibers involving alkali treatment and treatment with maleated polyolefins are found to be very effective in improving fiber-matrix adhesion. Bast fiber (kenaf) based composites showed best tensile and modulus properties while leaf fiber (henequen) based biocomposites showed best impact behavior. Through a blend of surface-treated base and leaf fibers, 'engineered natural fibers' (ENFs) can be designed and such ENFs on reinforcement with a polymer matrix result in biocomposites with superior physico-mechanical properties.