Barley husk and coconut shell reinforced polypropylene composites: The effect of fibre physical, chemical and surface properties

The main objective of this research was to study the potential of grain by-product such as barley husk, coconut shell as reinforcements for thermoplastic as an alternative or together with wood fibres. Thermal degradation characteristics of those fibres were studied to investigate the feasibility of these fibres to the processing point of view. The particle morphology and particle size was investigated by scanning electron microscopy. Water absorption properties of the fibres were studied to evaluate the viability of these fibres as reinforcements. The chemical composition and surface chemistry of those fibres were also determined to evaluate its importance in determining the end-use properties of composites. Polypropylene composites were fabricated using a high speed mixer followed by injection moulding with 40 wt.% of fibre load. Tensile and Charpy impact strength of resulting composites were investigated.