• Advances in materials Research
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.97-111
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• 2015

Polypropylene short fiber (PP)-clay particulate-epoxy ternary composites were prepared by reinforcing PP short fiber and clay particles in the range of 0.1 phr to 0.7 phr into epoxy resin. Prepared hybrid composites were characterized for their mechanical, thermal and flame retardant properties. The obtained results indicated an increase in impact resistance, tensile strength, flexural strength and Young's modulus to an extent (up to 0.5 phr clay and 0.5 phr PP short fiber) and then decreases as the reinforcing phases are further increased. The thermal stability of these materials are found to increase up to 0.2 phr clay and 0.2 phr PP addition, beyond which it is decreased. Addition of clay is found to have the negative effect on epoxy-PP short fiber composites, which is evident from the comparison of mechanical and thermal properties of epoxy-0.5 phr PP short fiber composite and epoxy-0.5 phr PP short fiber-0.5 phr clay composite hybrid. UL-94 tests conducted on the composite hybrids have showed a reduction in the burning rate. Morphological observations indicated a greater fiber pull with the addition of clay. The performed tests in the present study indicated that materials under investigation have promising applications in construction, agriculture and decorative purposes.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.157-160
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• 2005

The surface energies and acid-base interaction between the untreated and treated Jute or Hemp fibers and different matrix compositions of polypropylene-maleic anhydride polypropylene copolymers (PP-MAPP) were investigated using dynamic contact angle measurement. The contribution of the acid-base property into the interfacial adhesion of the natural fibers/matrix systems were characterized by calculating the work adhesion coming from the acid-base interaction. On the other hand, microfailure mechanism of both single Jute and Hemp fiber bundles were investigated using the combination of single fiber tensile test and acoustic emission. Distinctly different micro failure modes of the different natural fiber/polypropylene systems wet ε observed using optical microscope and determined indirectly by AE and their FFT analysis.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.456-461
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• 2014

The objective of this study is to give PP(polypropylene) fabric a good affinity for water. Oxygen plasma was treated to PP fabrics in a commercial glow discharge reactor with different RF power, discharge pressure, and reaction time. The PP fiber surfaces were characterized by the measurement of contact angle and ESCA. A JEOL scanning electron microscope was used to observe the surface morphology of fibers. The spontaneous water uptake amount of PP fabrics was determined by the demand wettability test. To determine the effect of aging on the surface properties of $O_2$ plasma treated PP, all the above measurements of the samples were carried out after 1, 7, 30, 60, and 150 days. The results are as follows. The PP fiber surfaces treated by $O_2$ plasma treatment have a chemical composition that consisted of various oxygen containing polar groups. Consequently, the contact angles of the treated PP fibers decreased, which improved the water uptake rate of PP fabrics. Surface roughness of the treated PP affected the fabric wettabiity as well. Wettability of the treated PP decreased and leveled off with aging. The $O_2$ plasma treatment is a simple and effective method to increase the water uptake rate of PP fabrics.

• Journal of Adhesion and Interface
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.16-23
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• 2008

In this study, novel waste wool/polypropylene NFRPs (natural fiber reinforced polymer composites), which are constituted with waste wool discarded as industrial scrap during manufacturing processes of woven fabrics and general purpose thermoplastic polypropylene (PP), were fabricated by means of compressionmolding and their mechanical and thermal properties were characterized. The mechanical properties of PP resin were significantly improved by an introduction of waste wool to PP. In particular, as the loading of waste wool was 50 vol% in the NFRP, the flexural strength of the NFRP was increased about 20%, the flexural modulus about 143%, the tensile strength about 76%, and the tensile modulus about 90% in comparison with each of PP control. In addition, the maximum value of the heat deflection temperature (HDT) obtained with the NFRP was $138^{\circ}C$ at a 50 vol% loading of waste wool. This is $21^{\circ}C$ higher than the HDT of PP control. The result here suggests that waste wool be a potential candidate for a reinforcing material of thermoplastic matrix resins.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.125-131
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• 2011

The effects of chopped kenaf fiber concentration on mechanical property of polypropylene (PP) composite are investigated. The addition of kenaf increased the tensile strength, flexural modulus, impact strength, specific gravity, and HDT, while decreased the elongation%, flexural strength, and melt flow index. The increase of mechanical properties is due to increased surface area contacting between fiber and polymer matrix and fiber-fiber interaction. Volatile extractives in the kenaf seemed to decrease the interfacial adhesion between kenaf surface and PP.

• Proceedings of the Korean Fiber Society Conference
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• 1996.04a
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• pp.64-68
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• 1996

PP-EVOH(poly(vinyl alchol-co-ethylene)) blends were prepared by the mixing of polypropylene and poly(vinyl alcohol-co-ethylene) containing 38mol% of ethylene units (EVOH38) at melt state above PP melting temperature. The materials were characterized by using dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and contact angle measurement to detemine the glass transition, meltin, decomposition temperatures, and wettability respectively. From the results, PP-EVOH(poly(vinyl alcohol-co-ethylene)) blends exgibits partial miscibility.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.209-220
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• 2018

In order to evaluate the effect of hybrid fibers on the flexural performance of tunnel segment at room temperature, twelve reinforced self-consolidating concrete (SCC) symmetric inclination beams containing steel fiber, macro polypropylene fiber, micro polypropylene fiber, and their hybridizations were studied under combined loading of flexure and axial compression. The results indicate that the addition of mono steel fiber and hybrid fibers can enhance the ultimate bearing capacity and cracking behavior of tested beams. These improvements can be further enhanced along with increasing the content of steel fiber and macro PP fiber, but reduced with the increase of the reinforcement ratio of beams. The hybrid effect of steel fiber and macro PP fiber was the most obvious. However, the addition of micro PP fibers led to a degradation to the flexural performance of reinforced beams at room temperature. Meanwhile, the hybrid use of steel fiber and micro polypropylene fiber didn't present an obvious improvement to SCC beams. Compared to micro polypropylene fiber, the macro polypropylene fiber plays a more prominent role on affecting the structural behavior of SCC beams. A calculation method for ultimate bearing capacity of flexural SCC symmetric inclination beams at room temperature by taking appropriate effect of hybrid fibers into consideration was proposed. The prediction results using the proposed model are compared with the experimental data in this study and other literature. The results indicate that the proposed model can estimate the ultimate bearing capacity of SCC symmetric inclination beams containing hybrid fibers subjected to combined action of flexure and axial compression at room temperature.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.161-165
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• 2004

The main goal of this work is to study the effect of glass fiber volume fraction on the result of tensile test with respect to glass fiber/polypropylene(GF/PP) composites. The tensile test and failure mechanisms of GF/PP composites were investigated in the fiber volume fraction range from 10% to 30%. The tensile strength and the fracture strength increased with the increasing of the fiber volume fraction in the tested range. Fiber pull-out and debonding of this composites increased with the fiber volume fraction in thc tested range. The major failure mechanisms were classified into the debonding, the fiber pull out, the delamination and the matrix deformation.

• Fibers and Polymers
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.210-214
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• 2003

Siloxylated polypropylene fibers composed of polypropylene (PP) and aluminosiloxane (AS) were prepared by melt blending followed by spinning. The effects of blend compositions on the thermal behaviors, surface and tensile properties of PP/AS blend fibers were investigated by DSC, WAXD, SEM, static honestometer, etc. The heat of fusion of PP/AS blends decreased with increasing AS contents. In addition, the peak intensity of PP/AS blends in X-ray diffraction patterns decreased with increasing AS contents. It was observed that the silicone molecules exist and well distribute on the surface of siloxylated polypropylene fibers. From the results of the half-life period measurements, the anti-static properties of PP fibers siloxylated with AS was found to be significantly modified.

• Journal of Adhesion and Interface
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.1-11
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• 2006

Interfacial evaluation of the untreated and treated Jute and Hemp fibers reinforced different matrix polypropylene-maleic anhydride polypropylene copolymer (PP-MAPP) composites were investigated by micromechanical technique and dynamic contact angle measurement. For the statistical tensile strength of Jute and Hemp fibers, bimodal Weibull distribution was fitted better than the unimodal distribution. The acid-base parameter on the interfacial shear strength (IFSS) of the natural fiber composites was characterized by calculating the work adhesion, $W_a$. The effect of alkaline, silane coupling agent on natural fibers were obtained with changing MAPP content in PP-MAPP matrices. Alkaline treated fibers made the surface energy to be higher due to removing the weak boundary layers and thus increasing surface area, whereas surface energy of silane treated Jute and Hemp fibers decreased due to blocked high energy sites. MAPP in the PP-MAPP matrix caused the surface energy to increase due to introduced acid-base sites. Microfailure modes of two natural fiber composites were observed clearly differently due to different tensile strength of natural fibers.