Investigation on Tensile Properties of Polymer Composite Based on Polypropylene, Polyamide Fiber and Carbon Black
Abduel Majid K. Najjar *
Department of Chemical Engineering Al-Garaboli, Faculty of Engineering, Al-Mergeb University, Al-Mergeb, Libya
Adnan Agieli A. Aboulgasemb
Department of Chemical Engineering, Academy of Higher Studies, School of Engineering, Libya, Zanzaour, Libya
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Polymer composites are important class of materials. Some of these composite composites display tremendous mechanical properties. The combination of artificial fiber with polypropylene matrix has affected its matrix mechanical properties. The main objective of this work was to study the tensile properties of the polymer composite made from polypropylene, carbon black powder and polyamide fiber. The composite sheets were prepared using hot press compression method at different processing temperatures and period of times. The composite chemical composition was varied by changing the components weight percentage. Tensile test was used to evaluate the effects of the processing temperature, time and the chemical composition. The results indicated that the processing temperature has enhanced the maximum force at yield, tensile stress, breaking force and elongation at break while processing time and carbon black powder content have reverse effects except for the elongation at break for carbon content. The optimum fiber content to achieve the maximum force, tensile stress and break force was 12.29%. Elongation at break was also increased when carbon black powder and fiber contents increased to 0.175% and 9.22%, respectively. It was clearly that the application of polyamide fiber in polypropylene composite has influenced the tensile properties of polypropylene composite.
Keywords: Polypropylene composite, polyamide fiber, tensile stress, carbon black