Mechanical and rheological properties of recycled high‐density polyethylene and ronier palm leaf fiber based biocomposites

Recycled plastic (rHDPE) was coupled with different weight percentage of ronier palm leaf fiber (RLFs) to prepare eco‐friendly polymer biocomposites. Fourier transform infrared analysis, tensile test, dynamic rheological test, hardness test, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis, and density measurement were used to determine the structural, mechanical, morphological and physical properties of the biocomposites. The modulus showed excellent improvement with the addition of RLFs. G′ and G″ were found to increase with the increment of both the filler content and the angular frequency. At low frequencies, the loss factor was increased with the frequency and decreased with the RLFs content. However, at high frequencies, it was decreased with both the angular frequency and the RLFs content. The complex viscosity η* was found to be increasing and decreasing with the RLFs content and the angular frequency, respectively. SEM micrographs of tensile fractured surfaces of biocomposites show pulled out RLFs zones and voids due to the presence of agglomeration. Finally, the experimental Young's modulus data was compared with theoretical predictions. A good fit was obtained with Einstein Model. In this work, recycled HDPE was reinforced by fibers from the leaves of the ronier palm tree to prepare biocomposites. No chemical reaction was shown by the FTIR. The biocomposite had increased tensile modulus compared to the neat recycled HDPE. A good fit was obtained with Einstein Model when the experimental Young's modulus data was compared with theoretical predictions. The complex viscosity η* was found to be increasing with the bio‐filler content and decreasing with the angular frequency.