Thermo-mechanical Properties of a Chemically Modified Buffing Dust Reinforced Waste HDPE Composites for the Production of Boot-last

Abstract

The thermo-mechanical properties of a chemically modified buffing dust reinforced waste HDPE composites for the production of boot-last has been investigated in this work. The tensile strength, impact energy and dynamic mechanical properties of chemically modified and untreated buffing dust fibre composites with variable weight fractions (10 wt%, 20 wt%, 30 wt%, 40 wt% and 50 wt% respectively) were carried out using standard methods. In the case of alkaline treatment, sodium hydroxide (NaOH) was used and subsequently, benzoyl chloride and permanganate. In the case of BD-wHDPE composites, KMnO₄ treated composite sample exhibited an improvement in ultimate tensile strength (UTS) with the highest tensile strength of 18.28 MPa at 10 % weight fraction of reinforcement. The KM-BD reinforced wHDPE composite with 40 wt% fibre fractions indicated the highest Young’s modulus with a value of 1.54 GPa when compared with the 0.96 GPa of the wHDPE matrix. The composite produced at 10 wt % of KM-BD produced the highest percentage elongation at break of 19.71 %. This is about 1.26 % higher than the untreated BD sample, 1.15 % higher than ammonium hydroxide treated samples and 1.43 % higher than benzoyl chloride treated samples. Therefore, it could be observed that, chemical treatment of the BD fibres improved the percentage elongation at break of the composites. The impact strength indicated that, 10 wt % of the UBD-wHDPE recorded the highest impact strength of 2.7 J/mm², higher than 2.4 J/mm² of the control and as well the chemical treated fibres. The dynamic mechanical analysis of the composites proved that, both UBD5 and KBD1 composites can withstand a temperature range of 56 – 62 ºC. These thermos-mechanical properties achieved has established the fact that, these wastes can be utilized in the production of boot-last.