Agricultural Research Management Information System

Home
Research Summary
Search
About Us
- ARMIS
- Brochure
Contact Us
Report
User Request
Data Input
Help
- Operation Manual
  - PDF
  - Video
- Program Area & Commodity
We have reached 37600 number of research entries at this moment.

- Logout

Research Detail

Home
Research
Detail

Fiber Diameter Effect on Compression Molded Flax Fiber-reinforced Biocomposites

ANISUR RAHMAN
Student, Master of Science (M.S)
Examination Roll No.: 08, Agri. Engg. FPM JD 07 M, Registration No.: 30823, Session: 2003-2004, Semester: January–June, 2010, BAU

Dr. Md. Monjurul Alam
Professor & Supervisor
Department of Farm Power and Machinery, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh

Dr. Md. Abdul Awal
Professor & Co-Supervisor
Department of Farm Power and Machinery, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

Flax fibers are often used as reinforcement for thermoset and thermoplastic to produce biocomposite products. These products exhibit numerous advantages such as good mechanical properties, low density, and biodegradability. Thermoplastics are usually reinforced with flax fiber using compression-molding technology but no research has been done on fiber diameter effect on biocomposite’s properties. Therefore, commercial thermoplastic high density polyethylene (HDPE) was selected for developing compression molded flax reinforced biocomposites with different diameter of flax fiber in this research. The main goal of this research was to develop compression molded biocomposite board using Saskatchewan flax fiber and the specific objective of the study was to investigate the effect of flax fiber diameter and flax fiber content on the properties of biocomposite. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) test and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) test were performed to study the thermal and morphological properties of the flax fiber. Flax fiber and thermoplastic resin was mixed using a single-screw extruder to ensure homogenous mixing. HDPE-based biocomposites was developed through compression molding with three different diameter flax fiber (fine, medium, coarse) and four levels of fiber content (5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% by wt.). Medium flax fiber-reinforced biocomposite showed the highest color index. While fine flax fiber-reinforced biocomposites showed the lowest density and water absorption. Fine flax fiber-reinforced biocomposite also exhibited the highest tensile, flexural and hardness properties. Increase in fiber content increased composite color index, density, water absorption, Young’s modulus, flexural strength, flexural modulus and hardness number. However, for the HDPE composites, tensile strength decreased with increased in fiber loading. Color index, density and water absorption showed the highest when fiber loading was 20%. Young’s modulus, flexural strength, flexural modulus and hardness number showed the highest when fiber loading 15% in biocomposites. The biocomposites board with 5% flax fiber showed the highest tensile strength. By conventional graphical method, optimum values of biocomposite were found as Fine flax fiber (19.3µm) with 6.25 % (wt) fiber content.

Keywords: Fiber diameter, Physical properties, Mechanical properties, Compression-molded Bio-composites, Flax fiber, Optimum fiber diameter

Location: Department of Farm Power and Machinery, BAU, Mymensingh

Start Date: 00-06-2010

End Date:

Program Area: Variety and Species

Commodity: Farm machineries, Hardboard

Objectives:

To achieve the main goal the following specific objectives were set for the research:

1. to investigate the effect of flax fiber diameter on different physical and mechanical properties of compression-molded biocomposites;

2. to investigate the effect of flax fiber loading on different physical and mechanical properties of compression-molded biocomposites; and

3. to determine the optimum fiber diameter, fiber loading of compression-molded biocomposites.

Methodology:

This chapter illustrates and explains the materials used, processing techniques, and experimental design adopted in the present study to develop a compression-molded flax reinforced green board. To characterize the developed biocomposite product, specimens were cut out of the molded biocomposite board to determine various physical, mechanical and thermal properties following ASTM standards. The different tests performed according to ASTM standards are also outlined in this chapter. Oilseed flax fiber obtained from Biolin Research Incorporated (Saskatoon, Canada) was used for developing biocomposite in this research. The flax fiber was cleaned and dried. Dried fiber was ground to 2 mm using a grinding mill (Thomas Wiley Laboratory Mill, Thomas Scientific, Swedesboro, NJ). The size reduction of flax fiber was done to ensure homogeneous mixing of fiber and polymer resin. The cleaned and dried flax fiber was used to reinforce HDPE to develop compression-molded green board or biocomposite and compare their properties. The diameter of flax fiber was measured according to ASTM Standard D7025 (ASTM 2005). This experiment was done by Biolin Research Incorporated (Saskatoon, Canada) personnel, using image analysis conducted with Fibreshape version 5.2 (Schmid and Mussig 2002). The Saskatchewan oilseed flax fibre was used in this experiment. One hundred grams of raw flax fibre was taken and combed with metallic brush. It was cleaned so that the fibre was totally free from any kind of shives. Then the cleaned fibre was weighed again. The new cleaned fibre weight divided by the raw weight was multiplied by 100 to give the purity of fibre. The tests were made in three replications and average was reported. The morphology of the fiber and fiber orientation/ dispersion in the compression-molded biocomposite can be studied by images captured by scanning electron microscope (SEM 505, Philips, Holland). The fiber/composites samples surface was vacuum coated with a thin layer of gold to provide electrical conductivity. All SEM tests were conducted at Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada. The effect of fiber content diameter and fiber content on color, density, water absorption, tensile strength, Young’s modulus, flexural strength, flexural modulus, and hardness of biocomposite boards were analyzed and studied. The optimum fiber diameter along with optimal fiber content was determined by conventional graphical method using Microsoft Excel 2003.

Source of Information: A Thesis, Master of Science (M.S.), Department of Farm Power and Machinery, BAU, Mymensingh, June-2010

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

The use of flax fiber for reinforcing thermoplastic resin has been investigated by several researchers and flax fiber has shown promising results as reinforcement for thermoplastic-based products. However, major work has been done with injection molding and rotational molding. The present study developed compression-molded green board using different type of Saskatchewan flax fiber and characterized the board to streamline the manufacturing process with fiber type and optimum fiber percentage to achieve biocomposites with desired properties. The conclusions that were drawn from the experimental results to achieve the final goal have been subdivided and listed according to specific objectives set for the research.

Knowledge Management: Thesis