| Abstract |
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Biocomposites based on natural fibers have exhibited several advantages like lightweight, high stiffness, biodegradability, low cost, which increased their usage as an effective alternative to synthetic fibers in various industrial applications. However, the awareness towards environmental issues leads to searching for new sources of natural fibers such as agricultural wastes. Date palm is one of the most economically implanted trees in Egypt and its by-products are widely used. As well, wood flour is a waste generated at different stages of wood processing industry. The study aimed to investigate the effect of using Date Palm Leaves (DPL) and Wood Flour (WF) as reinforcing fillers at (10, 20 and 30 wt.%) loading in polyester/flax woven sandwich biocomposites. Alkali treatment was applied to improve fibers/matrix adhesion and the fillers were characterized using FTIR spectroscopy. Mechanical properties such as the tensile strength, elongation at break and hardness, in addition to morphological analysis using SEM were studied. The results illustrated that, adding DPL and WF fillers to both types of polyester/flax biocomposites improved tensile strength and hardness but reduced elongation at break gradually. The highest tensile strength in warp direction was achieved with increasing fillers up to 20 wt.% ,while it was achieved at 10 wt.% in weft direction. Higher hardness values were obtained with warp rib 2/2 biocomposites using 20 wt.% DPL and at using 30 wt.% WF. Accordingly, the usage of DPL and WF as reinforcing fillers offered better enhancement in the mechanical performance of polyester/flax sandwich biocomposites. |
