Physical, thermal, and mechanical properties of polypropylene composites filled with rattan nanoparticles

Natural fillers are recognized as the materials that feature a poor fiber/matrix interaction. As a result, their composites behaviors are directly compromised. Existing evidence has exhibited that nanoparticle fillers can be employed as an alternative size to overcome this problem. We thus examined in this study the effects of rattan filler of nanoparticle size on the physical, thermal, and mechanical properties of the composite. Neat polypropylene (PP), PP with 5% rattan nanoparticle (PP/R5), and PP with 5% glass fiber (PP/FG5) were considered. For performance assessment, particle size analysis, morphology, X-ray diffraction, thermal inspection, and mechanical tests were carried out. The highest degree of crystallinity was discovered in PP/R5. Tensile properties of both PP/FG5 and PP/R5 were comparable although the former demonstrated higher moduli of elasticity and rupture. Well-distributed constituents were displayed in PP/R5 by means of morphological study, which offered insight into its highest average hardness, maximum strain, and therefore its advantageous ductile behavior compared to the other considered materials. © 2017 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Centro de Ciencias Aplicadas y Desarrollo Tecnológico. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).