Flexural and thermal properties of biocomposites from Cerbera manghas L. and polypropylene

Cerbera manghas L., sea mango (SM) was used as filler in polymer biocomposites. The hot melt internal mixing technology for blending SM as filler in polypropylene (PP) matrix is demonstrated. Different weight percentages (5 wt% - 25 wt%) of SM was added into the PP matrix. Results indicated that biocomposite with 10wt% of SM showed improvement in the flexural strength, and stiffness of the biocomposites was increased as the SM content increased. Further enhancement of biocomposites flexural properties, thermal stability and degree of crystallinity showed positive results when compatibilizer such as polypropylene-grafted-maleic anhydride copolymer (PP-g-MA) was incorporated in the biocomposite system. SM has played an important role in providing excellent thermal stability to the biocomposites, which increasing the thermal degradation temperature up to 25 °C at low filler content. The PP-g-MA compatibilizer improved the wettability between SM and PP with the presence of esterification bonding that bridged together both polymer matrix and natural filler.