Development of Cotton Fiber Reinforced Polypropylene/Polyethylene Composite Materials with Using Loosing Technique
Masahiro KURASAKA, Takashi MATSUOKA, Kazuhiko SAKAGUCHI and Hiroyuki FUJITA
Abstract:A method of molding composite materials with using loosing technique was developed, and the tensile properties of the composite materials were investigated. This molding method was developed to obtain higher fiber content and to increase the interfacial area between fiber and resin. Polypropylene/polyethylene (PP/PE) fibrous resin and cotton fibers were used as raw materials, and the composite materials were made by an injection molding and a hot-press molding with loosing cotton fibers and loosing PP/PE fibrous resin. It was clarified that the tensile strength of loosing fiber reinforced composite materials was drastically improved by the vacuum hot-press molding. It was also shown that the tensile strength of the composite material was 75 Mpa at the fiber weight content 70wt.% and its value was nearly equal to that of GF/PP composite material (30% fiber weight content) made by injection molding. Key Words:Card machine, Loosing fiber, Cotton fiber, Polypropylene/polyethylene fibrous resin, Injection molding, Hot-press molding, Tensile properties, High fiber content