The study on composites formation from HDPE and sawdust/rice husk as raw materials

Abstract In this study, composites were prepared using compression molding method from cheap raw materials of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) as matrix and mixture of rice husk and sawdust as filler. The small amount of coupling agent was added during preparation of composites and for comparison composite without addition of coupling agent was also prepared. The coupling agent used in this study was maleic anhydride (MA). The aim of this study is to form composites with and without addition of coupling agent and to know the effect of coupling agent addition and different ratio of matrix and filler toward mechanical properties of produced composites. Composites that contained different ratio of matrix and filler were pressed and heated at temperature of 170°C. The composites were tested its mechanical properties (bending strength and tensile strength) and water absorption capacity. The results indicated that the bending strength of the composite increased with addition of 4 wt% of maleic anhydride and with increased the percentage of filler until 50%. As for the tensile strength, the addition of 4 wt% of maleic anhydride as coupling agent increased the tensile strength significantly. The highest bending strength value of 12.8 MPa was obtained from composite prepared from raw materials contained same amount of matrix and filler and addition of 4 wt% of maleic anhydride. While the highest tensile strength value of 6.1 MPa was obtained from composite prepared from raw materials contained ratio percentage of matrix and filler (40:60 of wt%) and addition of 4 wt% of maleic anhydride.