Fabrication and mechanical properties of musa spp. blend with polvpropylene (c3h6)n as polymer composite / Mohd Nazree Jamaldin

Banana (Musa spp.) is a food very common in Asia and the trunk has a great
mechanical quality. Banana trunk is very suitable raw material to be used in
production of polymer composite or bioplastic) made up of natural composite. The
objective of the research is to create a bioplastic from the mix of banana trunk or
(Musa spp.) pseudostem and Polypropylene (C3H6)n. The plastic was prepared by
mixing banana trunk fiber and polypropylene using rheomixer at 180°C and 100
rpm for 10 minutes. The mixture then was casted into molding plate and being press
by hot press machine at 180°C for 6 minutes. After that the mixture undergo another
press using cold press machine at 40°C for another 6 minutes. The plastic then tested
using universal testing machine (Instron 5569) for its tensile strength, elongation at
break and Young's modulus to obtain the mechanical properties of plastic. The
maximum tensile strength, elongation at break and Young's modulus obtained was
5.14 MPa, 0.52% elongation and 1256.86 MPa with all using 50% of banana trunk
fiber.