Preparation and characterization of natural silk fiber-reinforced polypropylene and synthetic E-glass fiber-reinforced polypropylene composites: a comparative study

• Main Authors: Alam, A. K. M. M., Shubhra, Quazi T.H., Al-Imran, Gazi, Barai, Sanjoy, Islam, Mir Sujaul, Rahman, M. Mahbubur
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publications 2011
• Subjects: TP Chemical technology
• Online Access: http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/25933/1/Preparation%20and%20characterization%20of%20natural%20silk%20fiber-reinforced%20polypropylene%20.pdf; http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/25933/; https://doi.org/10.1177/0021998311401082; https://doi.org/10.1177/0021998311401082
• Institution: Universiti Malaysia Pahang

Bombyx mori silk fiber-reinforced polypropylene (PP) matrix and E-glass fiber-reinforced PP matrix composites were fabricated using compression molding. The prepared silk/PP composite tensile strength (TS), bending strength (BS), and impact strength (IS) were 55.1 MPa, 56.3 MPa, and 17 kJ/m2, respectively. E-glass fiber-reinforced PP matrix composites were fabricated in the same way and TS, BS, and IS values of these composites were 128.7 MPa, 141.6 MPa, and 19 kJ/m2, respectively. Environmental degradation of the composites showed that silk/PP composites degrade faster. Other degradation studies like thermal aging and soil degradation tests also gave similar result.