Mechanical and optimization studies of polypropylene hybrid biocomposites

Adeolu A Adediran; Abayomi A Akinwande; Oluwatosin A Balogun; Oladele S Bello; Miracle K Akinbowale; Olanrewaju S Adesina; Ayotunde A Ojo

doi:10.1038/s41598-022-06304-6

Mechanical and optimization studies of polypropylene hybrid biocomposites

Sci Rep. 2022 Feb 15;12(1):2468. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-06304-6.

Authors

Adeolu A Adediran¹, Abayomi A Akinwande², Oluwatosin A Balogun³, Oladele S Bello³, Miracle K Akinbowale³, Olanrewaju S Adesina⁴, Ayotunde A Ojo⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Landmark University, Omu-Aran, Kwara State, Nigeria. dladesoji@gmail.com.
² Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria. abypublication@gmail.com.
³ Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria.
⁴ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Landmark University, Omu-Aran, Kwara State, Nigeria.
⁵ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria.

Abstract

Towards developing a polymeric matrix characterized by high strength to cost ratio, polypropylene (PP) was hybridized with low-cost particulate snail shell (PSS) and kenaf fiber (KF) via compression moulding at 180 °C and 0.2 MPa. The developed composites were grouped into three and labeled as mix 2, 4, and 10. Each group entailed the blend of 5, 10, 20, and 30 wt% KF with 2, 4, 10 wt% PSS respectively. From the results, it is observed that the hardness value was enhanced by the blend of 5 to 30 wt% KF and 2, 4, and 10 wt% PSS. However, 2 wt% PSS mix with 5 to 30 wt% KF resulted in progressive improvement in impact, compressive, flexural, and tensile strengths values. The 4 wt% PSS yielded consecutive increase in impact, compressive and flexural strength when combined with 5 and 10 wt% KF. However, it was observed that subsequent addition of 20 and 30 wt% KF led to a marginal reduction in the strength values. The tensile strength attained optimum value when 4 wt% PSS was commixed with 30 wt% KF. Conversely, the combinations of 10 wt% PSS with 5, 10, 20, and 30 wt% KF had no significant improvement to the mechanical properties of PSS/KF-bio-PP composite (except for hardness) siring strength decrease. Taguchi optimization revealed that the collage of 4 wt% PSS and 10 wt% KF presented optimum mix for hybrid bio-PP composite.