Influence of Hemp Fibers Pre-processing on Low Density Polyethylene Matrix Composites Properties

Abstract

In present research with short hemp fibres reinforced LLDPE matrix composites with fibres content in a range from 30 to 50 wt% subjected to four different pre-processing technologies were produced and such their properties as tensile strength and elongation at break, tensile modulus, melt flow index, micro hardness and water absorption dynamics were investigated. Capillary viscosimetry was used for fluidity evaluation and melt flow index (MFI) evaluated for all variants. MFI of fibres of two pre-processing variants were high enough to increase hemp fibres content from 30 to 50 wt% with moderate increase of water sorption capability.