A potential of corncob powder as filler in thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) composites

Abstract

Thermoplastic polyurethane(TPU) have been utilized as a matrix filled with corncob fibers. Thermoplastic polyurethane have been used in broad assortment industries and for many purpose like automotive, medical and etc. Nowadays, natural fibers have been utilized as reinforcement in composite material for many application or purpose because they possess abundance of advantage compare to the synthetic fiber. For instance, small expenditure, low density and great easily obtained. This study is to investigated the morphological, mechanical properties and also capability of oil absorption of thermoplastic polyurethane filled corncob fibers. Thermoplastic polyurethane filled with corncob fiber have been established by five fiber content which are 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25%. The sample were prepared by compounding in heated two roll mills machine and compressed using compression molding machine. Then, all the sample undergo several testing to identify the mechanical properties. The testing were tensile test, swelling test, Scanning Electron Microscopy and Thermo-Gravimetric Analysis. The increase in filler content up to the optimum value cause the tensile strength to increase. Elongation at break is also increase when the filler content increase to optimum. The SEM micrograph result correlated with tensile test result. It is believed that 5% and 10% filler content formed a strong interaction with TPU matrix. In addition, 25% filler content has the highest percentage of oil absorption compare to 5% filler content composites. This may cause by high porosity composites absorb more oil in their structure. Then, TGA proved that the corncob filler have low thermal stability as the temperature for T10 and T50 decrease as filler content increase.