yes / Novel natural fibre composites of nylon-6 reinforced with coconut shell (CS) particles and empty fruit bunch (EFB) fibres have been investigated. Fillers were alkali treated before melt compounding with nylon-6. Mechanical, thermal and rheological properties of composites were measured. Tensile modulus was found to improve with both fillers up to 16% for nylon-6/CS composite and 10% for nylon-6/EFB composite, whereas a moderate increase in tensile strength was observed only with CS composites. Differences in the strengthening mechanisms were explained by the morphology of the two fillers, empty fruit bunch fibres having a weaker cellular internal structure. Observation of composite morphology using SEM showed that both fillers were highly compatible with nylon-6 due to its hydrophilic nature. Both fillers were found to cause a slight drop in crystallinity of the nylon matrix and to lower melt viscosity at typical injection moulding strain rates. Moisture absorption increased with addition of both fillers.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/15507 |
| Date | 28 December 2017 |
| Creators | Savetlana, S., Mulvaney-Johnson, Leigh, Gough, Tim, Kelly, Adrian L. |
| Source Sets | Bradford Scholars |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Article, Accepted Manuscript |
| Rights | © 2018 Taylor & Francis. This is an Author's Original Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Plastics, Rubber and Composites: Macromolecular Engineering, 2018, available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/14658011.2017.1418711 |
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