Polypropylene composites of wood filler were prepared at filler contents of 0 to 60 wt%. The particle sizes of the wood filler investigated were 200, 400, and 800 µm. The polypropylene composites were prepared in an injection moulding machine and the resulting composites were extruded as sheets. Mechanical and thermal properties of the prepared composites were determined. The results showed a significant effect of both wood filler inclusion and particle sizes on tensile strength, impact strength, flexural strength, elongation at breakage and hardness, thermal conductivity, and melting temperate of polypropylene. The increase in wood filler weight % and particles sizes enhanced the tensile strength, impact strength and flexural strength of polypropylene composites. However, the elongation at breakage was observed to decrease with increases in the wood filler content and particle size. Interestingly, careful observation showed that all filler content had same endothermic melting peak at approximately 165 oC.

Full text: IJEIR_1815_Final.pdf