• Balogun, Oluwatosin Abiodun
• Akinlabi, Esther Titilayo
• Saka, Sheriff Olalekan
• Daramola, Oluyemi Ojo
• Adediran, Adeolu Adesoji
• Oladele, Isiaka Oluwole

Abstract

<p>The incorporation of materials that were formally regarded as agricultural wastes into polymeric matrix has drawn the attention of many researchers in recent years. This research focused on reinforcing high-density polyethylene (HDPE) matrix with treated jute fiber (JF)/oil palm pressed fruit fibers (OPPFF) at varying weight proportions. JF and OPPFF were cut to 2.5 mm length and were chemically treated thereafter with 1 M and 1.5 M sodium hydroxide solution respectively. The composites were produced using the compression molding technique. The morphological characterization of the fibers and composites for untreated and treated samples was studied with the aid of a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Tensile and flexural properties of the produced composite samples were also determined. From the result, the surface morphology of the fiber after treatment showed that there was obvious exposure of the fiber surface and removal of impurities as this influenced the microstructure of the composites and in turn the tensile and flexural properties. Hence, it was observed that 20 wt.% treated jute fiber addition shows the most significant enhancements in terms of tensile and flexural properties. The study exposed the effect of surface modification of JF/OPPF hybridization on HDPE matrix composite.</p>

Topics

• density
• microstructure
• morphology
• surface
• scanning electron microscopy
• Sodium
• composite
• compression molding