Mechanical performance investigation of lignocellulosic coconut and pomegranate / LDPE biocomposite green materials

Abstract

Biocomposites have been implemented in various industrial applications. However, it is necessary to demonstrate their desired mechanical performance aspects for the near future green products. The aim of this work is to study the efficiency of utilizing both coconut and pomegranate lignocellulosic fiber as green reinforcement types for the low-density polyethylene, LDPE. Desired mechanical performance trends are investigated for the green composites including the tensile strength, tensile modulus, and elongation to break properties as a function of various reinforcement configurations. This was performed to properly optimize the reinforcement conditions to obtain desirable mechanical characteristics of such types of bio-composites for more sustainable functional attributes. Results have demonstrated that the best tensile strength for the coconut/PE was achieved at 20wt.% case with 8.2 MPa, and the best regarding this property for the pomegranate/PE was at 30wt.% with a value close to 8.3 MPa. Moreover, obvious inverse relationship between strength and strain for the coconut composite type was revealed at both low and high fiber contents. It was also noticed that the 20wt.% coconut-based composite has demonstrated the best optimal values of tensile strength and tensile modulus simultaneously. But no reinforcement condition was found for pomegranate/LDPE as an optimal for these mechanical properties concurrently.

Keywords

• biocomposites
• lignocellulosic fibers
• bio-products
• sustainable materials
• mechanical performance