Rheological behaviour on Polypropylene-Nanoclay-Gigantochloa Scortechinii fibres

Recently, there has been a growing number of publications focusing on thermoplastic melts regarding the flow behaviour especially the rheological behaviour of polymer composite. The reinforcement of natural fibres into the polymer has been the main topic due to ecological which can sustain the life of our earth and boost up the rheology properties of the composite. Natural plant fibre composites have advantages in production in manufacturing product due to biodegradability and environmental protection. Therefore, a study on rheological behaviour for a blend of Polypropylene – Nanoclay - Gigantochloa Scortechinii fibres (PP-NC-GS) composites were conducted to determine the rheological behaviour of the composites. In this research, two different formulations of PP-NC-GS have been studied, using the same commercial binder in all cases. These formulations contained different weight percentages of GS fibres which are 0% and 3% weight percentage. The evaluation of the flowability of different formulations was carried out using Capillary Rheometer. The analysis covers the flow curve, viscosity curve, power law (n) and yield stress (σ0). Both formulations show a quite similar pattern on the graph. However, composition 3% GS fibres show slight changes in shear stress compared to the composition of 0% GS fibres. The flow behaviour of both formulations exhibits similar types of behaviour based on the graphs plotted. PP-NC-GS fibres were considered as pseudoplastic non-Newtonian fluids. Meanwhile, the value of power law (n) is 0.4930 and 0.4839, respectively. The values showed that both formulations have a shear-thinning value which is less than 0.5. For 0% GS, where the composition represented higher sensitivity of viscosity against shear rate. On the other hand, the yield stress value for 0% GS fibres was lower than and 3% GS fibres. The yield stress value is corresponding to the value of shear stress when the shear rate is zero.