The Durability of Hygro-Immersion Aged Cellulose Fibre Reinforced Polymer Layered Silicate Nanocomposites

Abstract

This study aims at investigating the effect of water ageing on the durability of cellulose fibre reinforced polymer layered silicate nanocomposite. The material used comprises cellulose fibres from pinewood as reinforcement and high-density polyethene (HDPE) coupled with nanoclay as matrix phase. The prepared material is subjected to tap water ageing for 21 days. The durability is quantified by Barcol hardness for the material and measured at an interval period of 7 days. The obtained results indicate a reduction of hardness by 5.24, 13.17, and 16.60% in 7, 14, and 21 days aged nanocomposites. Besides, the one-way ANOVA test shows that the immersion time for the composite has a significant effect on the durability of the material with an R2 value of 99.96% tested at 95% confidence interval. The concluding remarks are validated using the results obtained for thickness swelling using the Fourier analysis. The work also presents a regression equation with high degree of accuracy, capable of estimating the Barcol hardness value for a given immersion time.