Development of Biocomposite: The Influence of Natural Fillers

A study was carried out to investigate the influence of different types of natural
fillers and their loadings on the mechanical properties of high density polyethylene
(HDPE) based composites. Silane treated oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) and
sawdust, varied from 10 – 30 %wt were used as the filler in the composites. The
incorporation of fillers was found to reduce the tensile strength of EFB and sawdustfilled
HDPE by 25% and 24% respectively whereby the flexural strength increased
up to 11% for EFB composite and 14% for sawdust composite. Insignificant change
was observed on the tensile strength of both EFB and sawdust composites as the
filler loading was varied. However, the flexural strength of EFB composite increased
up to 10% while sawdust composite impart no significant improvement on flexural
strength as the effect of filler loading was concerned. The micrographs from
scanning electron microscope (SEM) revealed the interaction between the fillers and
the HDPE matrix through the presence of fibre pull out, small gap and matrix tearing that weakened the composite materials.