Tensile Properties of Polypropylene Composites Reinforced with Mechanical, Thermomechanical, and Chemi-Thermomechanical Pulps from Orange Pruning

Abstract

This paper explores the evolution in the tensile strength of orange pruning fiber-reinforced polypropylene composites. The exploitation of these pruning's can effectively avoid incineration, with the consequence of CO2 emissions and fire risk, while extending the value chain of the agricultural industry. This biomass was subjected to three different treatments yielding mechanical, thermomechanical, and chemi-thermomechanical pulps. It was found that 20 to 50% of these pulps, together with a coupling agent, were used as polypropylene reinforcement. The evolution in the tensile strength and morphological properties of the fibers, and the effect of treatments on these properties were analyzed. A modified rule of mixtures (mROM) was used to analyze the micromechanical properties of the interface. In addition, the mechanical properties were weighted against the fiber treatment yields. Finally, factors to compute the net contribution of the fibers to the final strength of the composite materials were proposed.

Tensile Strength Assessment of Injection-Molded High Yield Sugarcane Bagasse-Reinforced Polypropylene

“…For SB fibers, it is probable that surface hydroxyl group density increased due to the progressive elimination of a small fraction of lignin and extractives. Reixach et al (2013bReixach et al ( , 2015 obtained yields of 99.1% for MP, 94.7% for TMP, and 90.1% for CTMP for orange tree pruning. These values are comparable to those achieved with SB.…”

“…This behavior is similar to that observed in other natural fiber-reinforced composites. Compared with SGW-reinforced composites, the elongation at the break was 4.2% and was 4% for MP orange pruning fibers, where in all cases 30% reinforcement and 6% MAPP were added to the composite Reixach et al 2015). Toughness is associated with the stress and strain at break as well as the shape of the stress-strain curve.…”

“…Consequently, the material with the highest properties will not always be the best because the importance of the relative property must be weighed against the process yield. Recently, the differences in yield did not justify marginal improvements in the tensile strength of CTMP-reinforced composites, such that MP-reinforced composites were favored (Reixach et al 2015). In any case, when the matrix is a polypropylene, the use of MAPP is essential for obtaining a good interphase between the matrix and the reinforcement/filler; this requirement is independent of the nature of the fibers.…”

Starch-Based Biopolymer Reinforced with High Yield Fibers from Sugarcane Bagasse as a Technical and Environmentally Friendly Alternative to High Density Polyethylene

“…However, the MP, TMP, and CTMP were expected to noticeably increase tensile strengths. The aforementioned statement is only true when the other parameters affecting the tensile strength of a composite, particularly a good interphase, are guaranteed (Reixach et al 2013(Reixach et al , 2015.…”

“…Strategies based on economic performance may attempt to reduce the weight percentage of expensive matrices by adding cheap fillers (Gu et al 2016). The property-based point of view is more interested in achieving higher tensile strengths or stiffness by introducing reinforcements (Vallejos et al 2012;Reixach et al 2015;Granda et al 2016). However, the environmental strategy focuses on replacing one or all the phases of a composite with more environmentally friendly components (Serrano et al 2014).…”