Investigations on the recycling of hemp and sisal fibre reinforced polypropylene composites

Microscopic, mechanical, theological and thermal tests were carried out in order to determine the recycling behaviour of PP/vegetal fibre composites. Different composites using hemp and sisal were characterized. All results were compared with PP-g-MA/hemp composites and PP/glass fibre composites. The results prove that mechanical properties are well conserved with the reprocessing of PP/vegetal fibre composites but that there is poor adhesion between the fibres and PP without any treatment. The addition of PP-g-MA shows an improvement of the bonding evidenced by MEB pictures. Vegetal fibres induce an increase in the percentage of crystallinity chi(c) and in the crystallization temperature T-c which can be explained by the nucleating ability of the fibres improving crystallization of PP. The Newtonian viscosity eta(0) decreases with cycles, indicating a decrease in molecular weight and chain scissions induced by reprocessing. The decrease of fibre length with reprocessing could be another reason for viscosity decrease. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.