The hydrophilicity ageing of polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) films treated by nonthermal plasma usually takes over 150 days. In the present work, the accelerated ageing induced by hydrogen atoms and ultraviolet (UV) radiation with a wavelength of = 253.7 nm was studied. It was experimentally found that the hydrogen atoms restored the modified polymers to their original h...

This study proposes melt-blending polypropylene (PP) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) that have a similar melt flow index (MFI) to form PP/HDPE polyblends. The influence of the content of HDPE on the properties and compatibility of polyblends is examined by using a tensile test, flexural test, Izod impact test, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTI...

This work describes flax fibre reinforced polymeric composites with recent developments. The properties of flax fibres, as well as advanced fibre treatments such as mercerization, silane treatment, acylation, peroxide treatment and coatings for the enhancement of flax/matrix incompatibility are presented. The characteristic properties and characterizations of flax composites on various polymers...

A microporous polypropylene (PP) hollow fiber membrane contactor was used as a reactor to biodegrade phenol in high-salinity solutions by Pseudomonas putida CCRC14365 at 30C. Suspended cells grew only at a NaCl concentration below 2.5 wt%. On the other hand, cells within hollow fibers completely degraded 0.5 g/L of phenol in solution containing NaCl up to 8.6 wt%, likely due to the fact that th...

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 mec...

Flame retardants for polypropylene (PP) and their potential suitability for use in fibre applications are reviewed. Five principal types of generic flame retardant systems for inclusion in polypropylene fibres have been identified as phosphoruscontaining, halogen-containing, silicon-containing, metal hydrate and oxide and the more recently developed nanocomposite flame retardant formulations. T...

A new treating method using sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and Maleic anhydride-grafted polypropylene (MPP) emulsion was introduced to treat jute fiber mat in order to enhance the performance of jute/polypropylene (PP) composite prepared by film stacking method. The surface modifications of jute fiber mat have been found to be very effective in improving the fiber-matrix adhesion. It was shown that tr...

As an alternative to inorganic fillers based composites which present high density, epoxy thermosetting (TS) phase was in situ created a polypropylene (PP) matrix and compatibilized by grafted maleic anhydride (PP-g-MA). The aim of this study is scrutinize the chemistry establish relation between morphology, mechanical properties, crystalline structure thermosetting/thermoplastic system. Depend...

Online commingled yarns were spun with three different polymeric matrices, namely polypropylene (PP), polyamide (PA) and polylactic acid (PLA) and glass fibers. Tailored sizings were applied for the three matrices and the resulting mechanical performance of unidirectional composites was evaluated and compared. Significant improvements in the fiber/matrix bonding were achieved by employed sizing...

Long-chain branching (LCB) with peroxydicarbonates (PODIC) is known as a suitable post-reactor process to introduce strain-hardening behaviour and an increase of melt strength to a linear polypropylene (PP). This opens up new possibilities for processing and therefore application. Especially in the case of adding value to PP post-consumer waste, LCB is a promising approach. LCB takes place by a...