Preparation of Polypropylene/Sisal Fiber Composites and Study on the Fiber Orientation

Abstract

The polypropylene/sisal fiber composites were prepared by twin screw extruder and vane extruder, respectively. The tensile test specimens perpendicular to the extrusion direction and parallel to the extrusion direction were prepared from the extruded composites, respectively. SEM observation showed that fiber orientation of sisal fiber in the composites was not obvious when the content of sisal fiber not more than 15wt%. When the content of sisal fiber was 15wt%, the ability to orientate of sisal fiber in the composite prepared by vane extruder was better than that of in the composite prepared by twin screw extruder, which the fiber orientation of sisal fiber was obvious along the extrusion direction in the composite. Tensile tests showed that the tensile properties of the composite parallel to the extrusion direction with 15wt% sisal fiber prepared by vane extruder were the best compared with other composites in this work. The results illustrated that the orientation of sisal fiber in the composites was beneficial to the improvement of the tensile properties of the composites.