Improving Bending and Tensile Properties of Lignocellulosic Filled Polypropylene Composite Panels Using Aramid Fabric

The bending and tensile properties of polypropylene (PP) composites panels prepared from wood flour (50 wt%) or rice husk flour (50 wt%), PP (47 wt%) with coupling agent (maleic anhydride-grafted PP, 3 wt%), and aramid fabric were investigated. Three types of composite panels were produced using the aramid fabrics which were placed in single face layer, in core layer, or in two surface layers of the composite panels. The composite panels were manufactured using a dry blend/hot press (compression molding) method. The tensile and bending properties of the composite panels were greatly improved by the incorporation of aramid fabric. The composite panels having aramid fabrics positioned in two layers close to top and bottom layers had the highest bending and tensile properties, followed by one layer and core layer reinforcements, respectively. The tensile strength and modulus of wood flour-PP composites with the aramid fabric placed in the top and bottom layers were found to be 57.0 MPa and 5120 MPa while they were found to be 28.2 MPa and 3785 MPa for the wood flour-PP composites with the core layer of aramid fabric, respectively. The tensile strength and modulus of wood flour-PP composites without aramid fabric were found to be 12.5 MPa and 2540 MPa, respectively. Similar trends were observed for the rice husk flour-PP composite panels.