Static and dynamic mechanical properties of a kenaf fiber-wood flour/polypropylene hybrid composite

A natural fiber hybrid composite containing equal proportions of kenaf fibers (KFs) and wood flour (WF) as the reinforcements and polypropylene (PP) as the polymer matrix was prepared, and its static and dynamic mechanical properties were compared with KF/PP and WF/PP composites. Static tensile and flexural tests and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) were carried out. The hybrid composite exhibited tensile and flexural moduli and strength values closer to those of the KF composite, which indicated a higher reinforcing efficiency of KFs compared with WE DMA revealed that although the glass-transition temperature remained unchanged by the replacement of half of the WF by KFs, the a-transition temperature of the hybrid composite was identical to that of WF composite. The magnitudes of both the alpha and beta (glass) transitions of the hybrid composite were comparable to that of the WF/PP composite. (c) 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.