the effect of using the textile waste fibers and nanoclay particles on physical and mechanical properties of composite made from wood flour/polypropylene

This study was conducted to investigate the feasibility of using waste textile fibers and the effect of nanoclay content on the physical and mechanical properties of a composite made from wood flour and polypropylene. Therefore, wood flour and polypropylene with a weight ratio of 50 to 50 with the textile waste fibers in two levels (0 and 15%), nanoclay in three levels (0, 2 and 4%) and 3% compatibilizer were mixed in an extruder at temperature of 160°C. Afterwards, the specimens were made with injection molding thechnology. Mechanical properties including tensile and flexural strength, impact strength and physical properties such as water absorption and thickness swelling were measured. The overall results showed that addition of textile fibers significantly improves the mechanical and and weakens the physical properties of the studied composite. The results indicated that the physical and mechanical properties of wood plastic composites except impact resistance, improved with increasing nanoclay content. The results of morphological studies to study the distribution of nanoclay using a range of X-ray diffraction (XRD) showed that the distribution of particles in the polymer matrix is the type of intercalation and by increasing the amount of nanoclay particles, layer to layer distance was increased.