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Graphene Oxide (GO) was added to Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE) to test the mechanical properties of the compound. Compared to other types of polyethylene, LDPE provides a good balance of mechanical properties and processability, which leads to its being chosen as the research’s matrix material. This experiment aims to prepare LDPE/GO through melt mixing technique and analyse mechanical properties of tensile strength/tensile elongation of LDPE/GO composite based on GO concentration (0, 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 wt%). The compounding of LDPE/GO was blended using a five-stage twin-screw extruder under specific conditions before going through the moulding process at melting temperature. The composites were cut according to ASTM D638 specimen dimension. The tensile properties of LDPE composites were filled separately with different weight fractions of GO at a 50 mm/min rate. It was found that the values of Young’s modulus of the composites increased, but the values of the tensile elongation at break decreased with increasing the GO weight fraction. The relatively big interfacial area and excellent interfacial adhesion between the matrix and the GO may be responsible for the composites’ reinforcement. This study provided a basis for further development of GO-reinforced LDPE composites with desirable mechanical performance and good damage behaviour.

Nowadays, wide applications of forward osmosis (FO) technology have been huge attention in solving the water shortage problems. Hence, the performance of thin film composite (TFC) forward osmosis membrane via interfacial polymerization (IP) was studied. 2% and 1% w/v of piperazine (PIP) and 0.15% w/v of trimesoyl chloride (TMC) were reacted with 3 different reaction time (60s, 30s, and 10s). The fabricated membranes were then characterized by FTIR, contact angle measurement and FESEM. Pure water flux, humic acid rejection (represent NOM) and salt leakage were evaluated to obtain the best polyamide FO membrane. The results demonstrated that polyamide FO membranes fabricated with 2% w/v possess a higher hydrophilic properties compared to 1% w/v. In addition, regardless of monomer concentrations, at longest reaction time (60s), there is no significant change in water flux. Membrane fabricated at 60s of reaction time exhibited water flux of 1.90 LMH and 1.92 LMH for 2% w/v and 1% w/v of PIP concentrations, respectively. The same trend also observed for humic acid rejection (93.9%-94.6%). The salt leakage test revealed that the minimum salt reverse diffusion (0.01-0.02 GMH) could be achieved for membrane fabricated at longest reaction time of 60s for both PIP concentrations. As conclusion, manipulating monomer concentrations and reaction time is the main key to obtain an optimal polyamide layer with high membrane performance covering higher water flux, higher removal of humic acid and lower reverse salt diffusion.