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A growing concern of climate change and waste pollution is causing a shift in products towards green materials. The automotive industry is exploring environmentally friendly alternatives to glass fibers (GF). This research focuses on understanding interactions between constituents of biocomposites made up of basalt fiber (BF) and hemp hurd particle fiber (HF) reinforced polypropylene (PP), and statistically comparing the mechanical properties. The addition of a coupling agent has significantly improved the performance and fiber-matrix interactions in the biocomposite blends. The elastic modulus of some BF/HF/PP mixtures were comparable to the GF/PP composite; however, the GF still outperformed in strength. Rotational and capillary rheometer analysis determined the viscosities of all formulations displaying that basalt composites were consistently lower in viscosity than the glass fiber composite, indicating easier processing conditions.
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OPTIMIZING MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR OF BASALT-NATURAL FIBER HYBRID INJECTION MOLDED COMPOSITES
Environmental consciousness is driving modern research and development in the automotive sector to target the advancement of feasible green materials in automotive applications. Basalt fiber has shown to be a robust competitor against glass and carbon fiber and is more eco-friendly manufacturing processes. Reinforcing polypropylene with basalt fiber and hemp hurd using maleic anhydride-grafted polypropylene (MAPP) as a coupling agent, has shown to contain similar mechanical properties to its competitors. A mixture model was implemented to optimize the mechanical properties of a variation of fiber ratios and MAPP to compare against a controlled GF mixture. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analysis of fracture surfaces show the variation in fiber–matrix adhesion based on addition of MAPP. This study concludes that the addition of MAPP improves the mechanical behaviors of hybrid composites made from basalt fiber and hemp hurd reinforced polypropylene.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1916564
- PAR ID:
- 10327214
- Editor(s):
- Society of Plastics Engineers
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- ANTEC
- ISSN:
- 2521-8565
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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