Structural Characterization and Mechanical Behaviour of Sodium Hydroxide-Treated Urena lobata Fiber Reinforced Polypropylene Matrix Composites

The present study is on the production and characterization of untreated and treated Urena lobata (U. lobata) fiber reinforced polypropylene (PP) composites. The untreated and treated U. lobata/PP composites were produced by compression moulding at varying weight percents of the fibers (5, 10, 15, 20 25, 30, 35) wt%. The following characterizations were carried out on the treated and untreated U. lobata/PP composites; X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR), and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Due to enhanced fiber-matrix adhesion, attributed to increased fiber roughness and crystallinity, the alkaline treated U. lobata composites showed enhanced mechanical, structural and morphological properties over the untreated U. lobata reinforced composites. Furthermore, the 30 wt% fiber loading, gave the best combination of the mechanical properties, as improvement in tensile strength (2–22 %), percentage elongation (5–26 %), and impact strength (2–19 %) was observed for the treated fiber reinforced composite compositions. Consequently, the 30 wt.% Urena lobata/PP composite is recommended for the development of PMC based automobile components.