Microwave Hybrid Heating for Moulding of Sisal/Jute/HDPE Composites

ABSTRACT

Microwave processing of polymer composites is gaining attention as a viable alternative to traditional thermal processing techniques owing to several reasons, including faster and environment-friendly processing. In the present study, High-density polyethylene (HDPE) reinforced with jute and sisal fibers (10 wt.%) composites were fabricated using microwave energy at 2.45 GHz frequency. The mechanism of microwave molding of the composites has been explained. To understand and compare the performance of the fabricated composites, mechanical (tensile and flexural), thermogravimetric (TGA), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses were employed to evaluate the performance of the composites. The composites exhibited significant improvement in tensile strength (29.25% and 48.69%), flexural strength (19.22% and 27.47%), and crystallinity (6.41% and 13.02%) for HDPE/Jute and HDPE/Sisal, respectively while compared to pure HDPE. The fractography confirmed that the fiber pull-out was the major mechanism of failure of the composites under mechanical loading. The processing data show that the application of microwave energy is a potential method to process natural fiber-based polymeric composites in a relatively low processing time.

摘要

由于以下几个原因, 聚合物复合材料的微波处理作为传统热处理技术的一种可行替代方法正受到关注, 其中包括更快和环境友好的处理. 在本研究中, 使用2.45 GHz频率的微波能量制备了黄麻和剑麻纤维(10 wt.%)增强的高密度聚乙烯(HDPE)复合材料. 解释了复合材料的微波成型机理. 为了了解和比较所制备的复合材料的性能, 采用了机械(拉伸和弯曲)、热重(TGA)和X射线衍射(XRD)分析来评估复合材料的性能. 与纯HDPE相比, 复合材料的拉伸强度(29.25%和48.69%)、弯曲强度(19.22%和27.47%)和结晶度(6.41%和13.02%)分别显著提高. 断口分析证实, 纤维拔出是复合材料在机械载荷下失效的主要机制. 加工数据表明, 微波能量的应用是一种在相对较短的加工时间内加工天然纤维基聚合物复合材料的潜在方法.

KEYWORDS:

• Natural fibers
• sisal fiber
• jute fiber
• thermoplastic polymer
• polymer matrix composites
• microwave processing

关键词:

• 天然纤维
• 剑麻纤维
• 黄麻纤维
• 热塑性聚合物
• 聚合物基复合材料
• 微波处理

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge Design Innovation Center (DIC) an initiative of Ministry of Education (MoE), Government of India for the financial support provided through its Project Grant No. DIC-1267-MID.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Research highlights

• The potential use of microwave energy for processing of natural fiber composites can be a welcome step towards minimizing ecological concerns and government policies towards environment as it is eco-friendly energy source.

• Microwave hybrid heating method results in reduced process cycle time and quick heating.

• The various characterization techniques reveals that the microwave processed developed composites showed increased crystallinity, improved mechanical and thermal properties as compared to pure matrix.

• Microwave energy has tremendous potential to process various small to medium size products with natural fiber based polymeric composites e.g., name plates, boards, etc.