A STUDY OF MODIFICATIONS OF FILLER DIMENSIONS AND THE EFFECT OF PHYSICAL AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF PINEAPPLE LEAF FIBRE REINFORCED POLYPROPYLENE COMPOSITES
A STUDY OF MODIFICATIONS OF FILLER DIMENSIONS AND THE EFFECT OF PHYSICAL AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF PINEAPPLE LEAF FIBRE REINFORCED POLYPROPYLENE COMPOSITES
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Date
2021-05
Authors
WADZANI, Samuel Gadzama
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Abstract
This research studied the effect of filler dimensions on some major properties of pineapple leaf
fibre-reinforced polypropylene composites. In this study, composites of PALF/PP were
produced, the PALF were extracted from pineapple leaves. This was achieved by adopting the
mechanical scrapping method. The surface of the extracted PALF were modified with 6%
NaOH, 14% C3H6O3, 6% HNO3 and 3% ZnCl. The surface modified PALF as well as the
control (untreated/unmodified) gave FTIR spectrum indicated that the modified PALF
chemical structures were not significantly altered. Microbial load analysis were carried out to
ascertain and determine the shelf life for the PALF, aspergillus was identified as the
microorganism that predominantly affected the PALF after a 12 months observation period.
Molds were fabricated using mild steel plates by adopted the modern methods of producing
molds, with the aid of a computer numerically controlled machine (CNCm) called the vertical
milling center (VMC). TAPPI methods were used to ascertain the composition of the PALF,
specifically the percentage composition of lignin, hemicellulose and cellulose in the PALF.
Elemental composition of the PALF were equally analyzed, the data were subsequently
compared and analyzed with the data collected from analyzing same samples using a more
accurate and state of the art equipment called the SEM-EDX. The PALF went through particle
size reduction stages, broadly classified into the macro (2-6 mm), micro (70 - 300 μm) and
nano (20 - 500 nm). The method adopted in the conversion of the PALF into micro and nano
fibrils is termed chemo-mechanical method. The PALF micro fibrils were characterized using
JOEL JSM 750F SEM, the micographs of the modified PALF showed morphologies of PALF
that could easily produce composites with enhanced properties. Similarly, the PALF
nanofibrils were characterized using JEOL JEM 2100 High resolution (HR-TEM), the
micrographs of the modified nanofibrils displayed a spider web-like structure with nano scale
diameter cellulose fibrils or branches of similar fibril bundle hooked up to produced larger
aggregates of nano cellulose. The PALF/PP composites exhibits improved mechanical,
physical and thermal and properties at the macro cellulose, micro and nano fibrils dimensions
of PALF respectively. These enhanced behaviours are seen even in the unmodified PALF/PP
composites, where the TS at the optimal performance with ratio of 30/70 of PALF/PP, there is
an increase by 27.88 % of TS for the micro PALF/PP composite and an amazing 70.65 %
increase at the nano fibrils PALF/PP composites level. However, the behaviour of the modified
PALF are higher than the unmodified PALF/PP composites when compared. The results show
that the reinforced HNO3 modified PALF/PP composites have higher performance index than
the reinforced C3H6O3 modified PALF/PP composites which gives better performance index
that the reinforced NaOH modified PALF/PP composites which performs higher than the
reinforced ZnCl modified PALF/PP composites, which gave higher performance index than
the unmodified reinforce PALF/PP composites.
Description
A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES,
AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA
IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN POLYMER AND FIBRE TECHNOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF POLYMER & TEXTILE ENGINEERING
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA
Keywords
STUDY OF MODIFICATIONS,, FILLER DIMENSIONS,, EFFECT OF PHYSICAL,, MECHANICAL PROPERTIES,, PINEAPPLE LEAF FIBRE,, REINFORCED POLYPROPYLENE COMPOSITES.