MECHANICAL AND FLAMMABILITY PROPERTIES OF LOW DENSITY POLYETHYLENE/ KOLA NITIDA WOOD FIBRE COMPOSITES

Composite samples of Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) and Kola Nitida (KN) wood fibres were prepared with fibre loading of 0, 5, 10,15, and 20 wt%. Tensile, hardness, and indentation tests were used to determine the mechanical properties of the composites. Tensile tests results show that yield strength and Young’s Modulus of the composites increased with increasing fibre content, after initial decrease. Yield strain followed a rather sinusoidal path, but increased from 0 to 20 wt%. The indentation test results, also show the indentation values increasing with increasing fibre content. Hardness test show that Shore D hardness value decreased with increasing fibre content. The improved mechanical properties of the composites suggest that Kola Nitida has good interaction with LDPE matrix. Flammability tests were used to assess the relative resistance of the composite to combustion. Ignition time, auto-combustion time, and Flame propagation rate tests were used. Flammability test results show that the ignition time, autocombustion time, and flame propagation rate increased with increasing fibre content. This suggests that improvement in the flame retardancy of LDPE was achieved using Kola Nitida wood fibres.