• Composites Research
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.328-333
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• 2013

In this study, bone plate made of glass/polypropylene composite material which was applied to an artificial bone was tested to check the service ability under fatigue loading. To check serviceability of composite bone plates fatigue test was carried out considering changes in the moisture absorption rate, locking position of screws and loading condition. Test results showed that all the tested specimens had the fatigue life more than one million cycles which was much higher fatigue life than the expected value of 650,000 cycles. Screw position was not critical impact on the deformation of the fracture site. In this paper, the mechanical performance of the glass/polypropylene composite was verified by fatigue test under various water absorption conditions, and this result may give useful information on the design of composite bone plate.

• Composites Research
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.201-206
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• 2014

Utilizing waste materials in making useful products is a globally increasing trend. This can reduce the cost and environmental issues. In this study, oyster shell powder (OSP) is reinforced as a filler in polypropylene (PP) matrix to make a new composite. The purpose is to improve fire retardant properties of PP as a result of OSP reinforcement. Mechanical, fire retardant and water absorption properties of the new composite have been studied in this research. Concentration of OSP reinforcement in PP has been varied by wt% and its effect on the above mentioned properties has been observed. SEM (scanning electron microscopy) images of tensile and bending fractured surfaces have been taken to observe the failure mechanism during mechanical tests. An increase in the fire retardancy has been observed as a result of the OSP reinforcement while tensile strength decreased. Stiffness also increased with the addition of OSP in PP.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.367-375
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• 2023

Composite materials, known for their excellent mechanical properties and lightweight characteristics, are applied in various engineering fields. Recently, efforts have been made to develop an automotive battery protection panel using a plain-woven composite composed of glass fiber and polypropylene to reduce the weight of automobiles. However, excessive warpage occurs during the GF/PP compression molding process, which makes car assembly challenging. This study aims to develop a model that predicts the warpage during the compression molding process. Obtaining out-of-plane properties such as elastic or shear modulus, essential for predicting warpages, is tricky. Existing mechanical methods also have limitations in calculating these properties for woven composite materials. To address this issue, finite element analysis is conducted using representative volume elements (RVE) for woven composite materials. A warpage prediction model is developed based on the estimated physical properties of GF/PP composite materials obtained through representative volume elements. This model is expected to be used for reducing warpages in the compression molding process.

• Journal of Adhesion and Interface
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.118-126
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• 2017

In a natural fiber-reinforced composite material, many studies have been devoted to improving the interfacial adhesion between natural fiber and polymer matrix and the composite properties through various fiber surface modifications. In the present study, waste wool-reinforced polypropylene matrix composites were fabricated by compression molding and their mechanical and impact properties were characterized. As a result, the tensile and flexural properties and the impact strength of waste wool/polypropylene composites strongly depended on the treatment medium, alkali treatment with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and silane treatment with 3-glycidylpropylsilane(GPS). The composite with waste wool by silane treatment exhibited higher mechanical properties and impact resistance than that by alkali treatment. The fracture surfaces of the composites support qualitatively the increased properties, showing the improved interfacial bonding between the waste wool and the polypropylene matrix.

• Advances in materials Research
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.119-131
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• 2023

The development of sustainable composites materials, from recycled polymeric materials and waste from the wood industry and stone processing, allows reducing the volume of these by-products, minimizing impacts on health and the environment. Nowadays, Polypropylene (PP) is the most recycled polymer in industry, while the furniture industry has increasingly used timber felled from sustainable forest plantations as a eucalypt. The powder tailing from the ornamental stone extraction and processing industry is commonly disposed of in the environment without previous treatment. Thus, the technological option for the development of composite materials presents itself as a sustainable alternative for processing and manufacturing industries, enabling the development of new materials with special technical features. The results showed that powder granite particles may be incorporated into the polypropylene matrix associated with short eucalyptus fibres forming green hybrid composites with potential application in structural engineering, such as transport and civil construction industries.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.51-62
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• 1999

The objective of this research is to develop paper sludge reinforced thermoplastic composites which incorporate the advantages of each component materials. The effects of paper sludge content(0, 10, 20, 30, 40----), mesh size(20~40, 60~80, less than 100mesh), and coupling agent(Epolene E-43 and Epolene G-3003) on the mechanical properties of paper sludge-polypropylene composites were investigated. Composite density increased with an increase in the paper sludge content. When paper sludge is incorporated into a polypropylene matrix, the flexural properties of the composite increase significantly with an increase in the paper sludge mixing ratio. Especially, flexural modulus was improved with increasing paper sludge content. The flexural strength of composites was improved, but flexural modulus reduced somewhat with decreasing paper sludge particle size. The flexural properties of paper sludge-polypropylene composites were improved by using coupling agents to enhance the bonding between reinforcing filler and matrix. Use of the epolene E-43 and G-3003 resulted in considerable improvement in the flexural strength over control specimens. The flexural strength of the G-3003 composite system is higher than that of the E-43 system. Generally, izod notched impact strength of paper sludge-polypropylene composite decreased slightly, whereas izod unnotched impact strength decreased significantly with increasing paper sludge contents. There was no effects of paper sludge particle size on impact strength of paper sludge-polypropylene composites. And izod unnotched impact strength of epolene E-43 composite system sharply decreased but that of G-3003 composite system was no tendency with increasing additive content.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.327-332
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• 2014

Polymer/wood flour composites are recently attracting a lot of interest because they are economic and ecofriendly. In this study, the effects of wood flour size on the thermal and mechanical properties of a polypropylene/wood flour composite were investigated. Mechanical properties of the composite samples prepared by melt-mixing and compression molding were tested by UTM and an izod impact tester, and thermal properties of them were measured by TGA, DMA, DSC and TMA. The best coupling agent was selected by testing three kinds of maleic anhydride modified polypropylene coupling agents, and under the same condition, the effects of wood flour size on the physical properties of the composite were investigated. According to the test results for four different wood flour sizes of 600, 250, 180 and $150{\mu}m$, flexural strength, flexural modulus, crystallinity and water-resistivity of the composite increased with decreasing wood flour size.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.76-86
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• 1998

Effects of processing variables and MAPP (maleic anhydride polypropylene) coupling agent on the properties of composite were discussed for turbulent-air-mixed woodfiber-polypropylenefiber composites. In this research, density, composition ratio, and mat moisture content were established as processing variables, and emulsified MAPP prepared by direct pressure method was incorporated as the coupling agent. And the turbulent air mixer, which was improved in function through alteration of our previous fiber mixer, was used to mix wood fibers and polypropylene fibers. At the addition level of 1% MAPP, based on oven-dried wood fiber weight, woodfiber-polypropylenefiber composites generally showed enhanced the physical and mechanical properties. And composites with low to medium densities of 0.6 to 0.8g/$cm^3$ greatly increased in these property values than with high densities of 1.0g/$cm^3$ or more by adding 1 % MAPP. Thus, MAPP addition was thought to be an effective way of enhancing properties for nonwoven web composites. At the mat moisture contents of 5 to 20%, however, the physical and mechanical properties were not enhanced by adding 1% MAPP. In the composites containing 15% polypropylene fibers, the lowest thickness swelling and water absorption values were observed at the 1% MAPP level. The addition of more than 1% MAPP had the adverse effect on the physical and mechanical properties of composites.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 1999.04a
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• pp.5.2-8
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• 1999

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.33-44
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• 1997

This study was executed to examine the effects of polypropylene fiber length and process variables of the composites made from wood fiber and nonwood fiber mixed formulations. As a nonwood fiber the polypropylene with 3 denier thickness of tow condition was selected and cut into each length of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5cm to mix with wood fiber. And also western hemlock wood fiber for medium density fiberboard was prepared. First, to decide an adequate polypropylene mixing fiber length, the composites of 1.0g/$cm^3$ density were made from 10% polypropylene fiber by each of five lengths and 90% western hemlock fiber mixed formulations. Thereafter as the experiments of process variable, the composites applied with adequate polypropylene fiber length(1.5cm) were made from 4 density levels (0.6, 0.8, 1.0, 1.2g/$cm^3$). 3 mixed formulations of wood fiber to polypropylene fiber(95 : 5, 90 : 10, 85 : 15), and 3 mat moisture contents(5, 10, 20%). According to the results and discussions it was concluded as follows ; The physical and mechanical properties were shown improved tendency. as polypropylene fiber length was increased in the range from 0.5 to 1.5cm, but shown decreasing tendency from 2.0 to 2.5 cm. Accordingly, it was shown that polypropylene fiber length is limited to 1.5cm or less length in mixing wood fiber and polypropylene fiber by turbulent air mixing process. As the densities of wood fiber-polypropylene fiber composites were increased, the physical and mechanical properties were clearly improved. Also they were shown significantly increasement statistically between densities respectively. In the mixed formulations, physical and mechanical properties were shown only slightly improvement, as they changed from 95 : 5 to 85 : 15 in wood fiber to polypropylene fiber. Despite of increasement of mat moisture content, mechanical properties were not improved significantly but physical properties were improved somewhat in wood fiber-polypropylene fiber composites.