Effect of Fiber Content on Mechanical and Morphological Properties of Bamboo Fiber-Reinforced Linear Low-Density Polyethylene Processed by Rotational Molding

Abstract

Rotational molding or rotomolding is a powder processing technique used for the manufacturing of hollow plastic products. The present work investigates the moldability of long bamboo fiber as the reinforcement for linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) matrix. The temperature of the mold, oven and internal air temperature of the mold has been recorded to study the heat transfer rate while processing composites with different weight percentage. Mechanical properties were found to be improved by 5% fiber addition, and beyond that, the properties were reverted. Morphological characterization was done to analyze the interfacial properties of fiber and matrix. The present work successfully incorporated long bamboo fibers with LLDPE powders and uniformly distributed these fibers along the sides of the mold without applying any external pressure. Thus, it is concluded that fiber incorporation is possible in the rotomolding process and homogenous randomly oriented fiber dispersion can also be achieved by the rotational molding process.