Girginer Burcu (1)*, Oztoksoy Mert Emre (1), Yildiz Ramazan Bedirhan (2), Guner Fatma Seniha (2), Seydibeyoglu Mehmet Ozgur (3), Taskin Deniz (4)
(1) Farplas Automotive Company R&D Department - Kocaeli - Turkey, (2) Department of Chemical Engineering, Istanbul Technical University - Istanbul - Turkey, (3) Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Izmir Katip Celebi University - Izmir - Turkey, (4) Gama Alfa Plastic Inovation Industry and Trade Inc. - Kocaeli - Turkey
Cellulose is a well known green renewable material with potential usage in many important industrial applications. When forming compounds Cellulose nanofibers formed by cellulose polymeric chains can have big influence on mechanical properties. In our study whilst the growth evidence of nanocellulose is detectable, this important material was used to reinforce polypropylene matrix with a coupling agent. In our previous study, the type (FUSABOND E265) and concentration of coupling agent was optimized as 0.1 wt%. Now, we have further studied the processing parameters of polypropylene nanocellulose nanocomposites with different nanocellulose content including 0.5, 1, 2 and 5 wt% via lab scale twin screw extruder. The compounded nanocomposites were investigated using a rheometer to understand the shear properties and processing optimization. The nanocomposites were further injection molded in order to obtain auto parts jointly with Farplas group in Istanbul. The mechanical properties of the injection molded parts were investigated with tensile testing providing tensile strength, tensile modulus and % elongation. This study gave a full understanding of the processing of nanocellulose composites which is very critical for the future studies and commercial products.