MECHANICAL ANALYSIS OF POLYETHYLENE ALUMINUM COMPOSITE REINFORCED WITH SHORT FIQUE FIBERS AVAILABLE A IN TWO-DIMENSIONAL ARRANGEMENT

Abstract

The study of the behavior of the physical-mechanical fraction of recycled LDPE/AL recovered from Tetra Pak packing from a post-consumer source, reinforced with fique fiber is presented in this paper, which emphasizes in the reinforcement of the material with short fibers on dimensional random arrangement. To observe the effect produced on physical- mechanical properties due to the fiber’s addition, boards were made through the molding process in a hot press controlled by computer, with percentages of 10, 30 and 50 % v/v of fiber and a comparison was made between the properties obtained and the obtained with the LDPE/Al without reinforcement. Following this methodology, it was possible to obtain an increase on strength and tensile modulus of the material in a percentage of 216 and 515 % respectively, when 50 % of fiber was incorporated. However the best results achieved were presented in flexion with 30 % of fique. Moreover, an increasing trend on water absorption can be observed with the addition of fiber in the material. Additionally, the compound was observed using SEM technique in order to qualify the fiber adhesion, to the matrix, the homogeneity and porosity of the compound.