Paper mill sludge as fillers in polypropylene thermoplastic composites / Jamaludin Kasim … [et al.]

Paper mill sludge was collected from Union Paper Mill Sdn. Bhd., Bentong in the form of wet paste, oven-dried and grounded into powder form to be use as filler in the manufacture of polypropylene thermoplastic composites. Three different particle sizes (<0.15, 0.15 and >0.15 mm sieve size) was blended into polypropylene at 10 to 50% filler loading and a 3% maleated anhydride polypropylene was added as a coupling agent. The composite properties of modulus of rupture, tensile strength and flexural modulus decreased significantly while the elongation at break and water absorption increases with bigger particles. Increasing the filler content from 10 to 50% showed a significant decrease in the modulus of rupture, tensile strength and elongation at break. However the modulus properties of tensile and flexural, and the water absorption properties increased significantly. Addition of maleated anhydride polypropylene does not show any improvement towards the composite properties. The blended admixture could be use as a starting raw material in the manufacture of various thermoplastic products that does not require high strength properties.