Improvement of ternary recycled polymer blend reinforced with date palm fibre

• Date palm fibre treated with 1% MA improved adhesion and dispersion in the blend.
• The improvement in mechanical properties and thermal stability were confirmed.
• Fibre addition did not change melting and crystallisation temperature of the blends.

This paper investigates the study and preparation of date palm fibre reinforced recycled polymer blend composites. This is the first paper which describes the recycled polymer ternary blends of (1) recycled low density polyethylene (RLDPE), (2) recycled high density polyethylene (RHDPE) and (3) recycled polypropylene (RPP). The date palm fibre reinforced composites (CD00) were prepared by maintaining constant weight% of fibre of 20 wt% without any fibre treatment. Maleic anhydride (MA) was used as the compatabilizer (1 and 2 wt%) and the effect of compatabilizer on the blend matrix composites was studied. The mechanical, thermal, morphological properties, water absorption and chemical resistance properties were evaluated for these composites and also studied for pure blend matrix (C00). Date palm fibre improved the tensile strength and hardness of recycled polymer blend matrix. Further improvement was achieved with 1% MA (CD1), which showed that 1% MA treated composites (CD1) had higher tensile strength, modulus and hardness properties. Thermal stability and water absorption were improved by 1% MA. These improvements were demonstrated at the nanoscale level by the decrease in roughness appearing in Atomic Force Spectroscopic Microscopy analysis indicating that flow is better under this concentration. The SEM analysis also showed that the fibre matrix adhesion improved by adding 1 wt% (CD1) of MA. The melting and crystallisation temperatures of the blends did not change with the addition of date palm fibre and MA, indicating that the additives did not influence the melting and crystallisation properties of the composites. The chemical resistance test results showed that these composites are resistance to all chemicals but more weight gain observed in solvents. 2 wt% of MA (CD2) caused poor adhesion between the polymer chains and fibres as well as polymer chain scission.