Development of natural fibre reinforced polystyrene (NFRP) composites: Impact resistance study

The prevalent global issue on environmental pollution and the growing desire for polymer based composite materials has given rise to increasing research in the production of composite containing natural organic fillers. This study describes the optimization of impact strength of plastic composites developed from polystyrene and natural fibre wastes(sawdust and rice husk) using 3-level-factoral-design via hand lay-up method studying the effect of filler concentration (15 – 45 %), filler size (20 – 100 µm) and alkaline treatment concentration (2 – 6 %) on the impact strength of polystyrene fibre reinforced composite. Models were developed using response surface methodology to predict impact strength of the composite as a function of the process variables investigated. The optimization of the process parameters show that the optimum condition for obtaining high impact strength are 15% filler concentration, 100 µm filler size and 4% alkaline (NaOH) concentration in saw dust filled composite while a filler concentration of 15%, filler size of 31µm and an alkaline concentration of 2% for the rice husk filled composite. The recycled polystyrene in combination with wood dust and rice husk has produced a polymer composite with moderate impact strength applicable in various applications.