THE EFFECT OF MALEATED POLYPROPYLENE (MAPP) ON THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF KENAF CORE – POLYPROPYLENE COMPOSITES

The manufacturing of kenaf core fibre – polypropylene composites with treated and non-treated maleated polypropylene (MAPP) was fabricated. Commercial MAPP (epolene 43) was used to determine MAPP’s effectiveness as a coupling agent for kenaf fibre-composites. The mixturing between kenaf, PP and MAPP was done in an internal mixer machine to produce a pellet. A Kenaf core- polypropylene composite sample was manufactured using a compression moulding method on the kenaf and polypropylene (PP) pellets. The tensile, flexural and impact of the epolene 43 treated composite samples were better than those of the untreated composites. Scanning electron micrograph (SEM) proved that the interfacial region of treated composite board shows good interaction among kenaf’s wood fibre and PP components.