Preparation and mechanical properties of high‐performance short ramie fiber‐reinforced polypropylene composites

Abstract

Short ramie fiber (RF) was used to reinforce the polypropylene (PP). The composites were prepared in a twin-screw extruder followed by injection molding. The experimental results showed that both the strength and the modulus of the composites increase considerably with increasing RF content. The tensile strength and flexural strength are as high as 67 and 80 MPa by the incorporation of ramie up to 30 wt %. To the best of our knowledge, this is one of the best results for short natural fiber-reinforced PP composites. However, the preparation method in this study is more simple and economic. This short RFreinforced PP composites extend the application field for short-nature fiber-reinforced PP composites. Morphological analysis revealed that it is the high aspect ratio of the fiber and good interfacial compatibility that result in the high performance of the composites.

Modeling and optimization of tensile strength and modulus of polypropylene/kenaf fiber biocomposites using Box–Behnken response surface method

“…In spite of the advantages of natural fiber thermoplastic biocomposites, the thermal and mechanical properties of biocomposites are a major concern for their final use in various industries. Consequently, various standardized tests have been developed for their characterization, such as tensile, flexural, compression, vibration, fatigue, fracture, stress and impact tests .…”

The use of ramie fibers as reinforcements in composites

“…Romanzini et al . compared fl exural and impact strength of ramie fi ber/unsaturated polyester composites at fi ber lengths of 25,35,45, and 55 mm, respectively [54] . When the fi ber length increased from 45 mm to 55 mm, the fl exural and impact strengths of the composites both decreased.…”

“…Literature concerning ramie fi ber-reinforced polyolefi n composites was mostly focused on interfacial bonding enhancement [28,34] and process improvement [44,45] . Chen et al .…”

“…Feng et al . fabricated short ramie fi ber-reinforced PP composites by extrusion and injection molding processes (with 3% MAPP) [45] . The tensile strength and fl exural strength were as high as 67 and 80 MPa after incorporation of 30 wt% ramie fi bers, which the authors believed to be one of the best results for short natural fi ber-reinforced PP composites.…”

“…These process techniques included extrusion with injection molding [18,34,38,43,45] , brabender compounding plus compression molding [19,42,62] , ramie fi ber/ polymer fi ber mixing followed by thermo-forming [15,44] , and fabric layup followed by compression molding [47] .…”