Fabrication and Characterization of Microcellular Polyurethane Sisal Biocomposites

S M S Abdel-Hamid; O A Al-Qabandi; Elminshawy N A S; M Bassyouni; M S Zoromba; M H Abdel-Aziz; H Mira; Elhenawy Y

doi:10.3390/molecules24244585

Fabrication and Characterization of Microcellular Polyurethane Sisal Biocomposites

Molecules. 2019 Dec 14;24(24):4585. doi: 10.3390/molecules24244585.

Authors

S M S Abdel-Hamid¹, O A Al-Qabandi², Elminshawy N A S³, M Bassyouni^{4

5}, M S Zoromba^{6

7}, M H Abdel-Aziz^{6

8}, H Mira⁹, Elhenawy Y³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical Engineering, the Egyptian Academy for Engineering and Advanced Technology, Affiliated to Ministry of Military Production, Al Salam city 3056, Egypt.
² EQUATE Petrochemicals Company, P.O. Box 91717, Ahmadi 61008, Kuwait.
³ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Port Said University, Port Fouad 42526, Egypt.
⁴ Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Port Said University, Port Said 42526, Egypt.
⁵ Materials Science Program, University of Science and Technology, Zewail City of Science and Technology, October Gardens, 6th of October, Giza 12578, Egypt.
⁶ Chemical and Materials Engineering Department, King Abdulaziz University, Rabigh 21911, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Port Said University, Port-Said 42521, Egypt.
⁸ Chemical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21526, Egypt.
⁹ Nuclear Materials Authority, Cairo 11381, Egypt.

Abstract

In this study, microcellular polyurethane (PU)-natural fiber (NF) biocomposites were fabricated. Polyurethanes based on castor oil and PMDI were synthesized with varying volume ratios of sisal fiber. The effect of natural fiber treatment using water and alkaline solution (1.5% NaOH) and load effect were investigated. Biocomposites were mechanically and physically investigated using tensile, viscoelasticity, and water absorption tests. The interfacial adhesion between PU and sisal fiber was studied using SEM. Short NF loads (3%) showed a significant improvement in the mechanical properties of the PU-sisal composite such as modulus of elasticity, yield and tensile strength up to 133%, 14.35 % and 36.7% respectively. Viscoelastic measurements showed that the composites exhibit an elastic trend as the real compliance (J') values were higher than those of the imaginary compliance (J''). Increasing NF loads resulted in a decrease of J'. Applying variable temperatures (120-80 °C) caused an increase in the stiffness at different frequencies.

Keywords: CES; biocomposites; polyurethane; sisal; thermal expansion; viscoelasticity.

MeSH terms

Elastic Modulus
Materials Testing
Molecular Structure
Polyurethanes / chemistry*
Rheology
Temperature
Tensile Strength
Textiles / analysis*

Substances

Polyurethanes