mechanical, morphological and water absorption properties of polyethylene/olive pomace flour bio-composites

Mechanical and physical properties of various weigh percentages (0% - 40%) of olive pomace flour (opf)- loaded linear low density polyethylene (lldpe) in the presence of 0%, 5% and 10% coupling agent (c) were formulated and s tudied. extrusion and hot press processing techniques were used to fabricate opf/lldpe composites. tensile s tress at yield increased by 20% with the increasing of the filler loading up to 20%; and marginally increased in the presence of the c. whereas, the decline in the tensile s train at yield of the polymer composite improved with the increase in the c content. the modulus increased from 631 mpa for the neat lldpe to 680, 808 and 700 mpa for the composites filled by 5%, 10% and 20% filler content, respectively. whereas, a decrease in the given modulus (550 mpa) was observed at 40% filler loading. the modulus has shown a successive improvement upon the addition of the c with values not less than 800 mpa. the impact s trength decreased with the increase in filler loading from 119 kj/m2 for the neat lldpe to 81, 43, 27 and 16 kj/m2 for the 5%, 10%, 20% and 40% opf/lldpe samples, respectively. on the contrary, 10% c addition improved the impact s trength of the composite by two folds in the case of 10 - 40% filler inclusion. the scanning electron microscopy (sem) illus trations proved the mechanical performance of various bio-composite formulations. water absorption of the bio-composite increased with the opf loading, from 0.73% for the neat lldpe to 2.6% for 40% opf-filled polymer composite, and decreased upon increasing the c content with an average of 1.4% for all composites. formulated by mixing cellulosic-based material opf and lldpe, the bio-composite demons trated compatible physical properties and can be used as an already available cellulosic filler for the bio-composite materials.