| The objective of this research was to study composites from cornhusks and chicken feathers, which are abundant, cheap, and provide an opportunity to replace non environmentally-friendly raw materials used to reinforce composites. Light-weight composites have been prepared from ground chicken quill (CGCQ) and polypropylene (PP), chicken feather fiber (FF) and high density polyethylene/polypropylene (HDPE/PP), chemically extracted cornhusk fibers (CHF) and PP, and split cornhusk (MSH) and PP web utilizing compression molding. Mechanical and sound absorption properties have been compared with jute-PP composites, which are currently being used as automotive interior composites.; The effect of holding temperature, time, thickness, concentration of reinforcing materials, fiber length, and chemical treatment on mechanical and sound absorption properties have been studied. Higher temperature and holding time lead to increased mechanical properties; however, too high temperature and long time lead to agglomeration of matrix polymer leading to substantial variation in properties. Mechanical and sound absorption properties initially increase and then decrease with increasing thickness and concentration. Increasing length leads to increasing mechanical properties; however, variation in properties increases. Enzyme treatment of CHF results in increased mechanical and sound absorption properties.; Optimized CGCQ-PP has similar flexural strength (FS) and offset yield load (OSY), lower modulus of elasticity (MOE), and lower tensile strength (TS) and tensile modulus (TM) compared with jute-PP. Noise reduction coefficient (NRC) of CGCQ-PP is 71% higher than that of jute-PP. Mechanical properties of FF-HDPE/PP are inferior to jute and quill composites; however, sound absorption is 29% better than jute and 25% less compared with quill composites. CHF-PP has 33% higher FS, 71% lower MOE, 43% higher TS, 54% lower TM, and slightly higher NRC compared with jute-PP. MSH-PP preparation is a novel method, which allows utilization of materials of any shape and incorporation of technical materials inside the composites in a one-step continuous process. This method may open the door for a wide variety of agricultural byproducts in composites. Although the mechanical properties of MSH-PP are inferior to jute-PP, MSH-PP has 100% better sound absorption. |
