The Mechanical Properties Of Green Polyblend Based On Waste Polypropylene Filled In Variation Particle Size Natural Fiber And Initiator Concentration

Abstract

Synthesis of green polyblend from waste polypropylene (recycle polypropylene, rPP) filled reinforcing husk rice powder (HR) in weight ratio rPP/HR (8/2) using multifunctional acrylic acid (AA) processed reactively in internal mixer had been carried out. To understand the effect of initiator concentration, some concentration variations of benzoyl peroxide (BPO) initiator had been done in 5 levels (0; 0.02; 0.05; 0.07; and 0.10 phr). Based on the mechanical properties (tensile strength, TS) and the melt flow index (MFI) in thermoplastic condition, it was found that the best concentration was 0.02%. To study the effect of particle size, four level variations (40; 70; 100 and 120 mesh) of the HR particle size using 0.02 phr BPO was prepared. It has been found that decreasing the particle size (40 to 120 mesh) decrease the MFI accordance with ASTM and
increase the TS value. To understand the correlation between particle size and biodegradability of the green polyblend, firstly, it was performed water absorption characterization to the polyblend specimen. Water absorption
(WA) studies showed an increase in water uptake with increase in particle size. Biodegradation of the green polyblend (reflected by the lost of weight, LW) was done by burying the specimen in cellulolytic bacteria enriched garbage soil for four months. The result showed that increasing the HR particle size (120 to 40 mesh) increase the biodegradation properties.