Investigation of mechanical properties of pine-cone reinforced composites

The pine cone plant is a cellulosic material that is inexpensive and abundant in nature. It can be used as reinforcing material in thermoplastic based composites. Pine cone plant has good mechanical properties and therefore allows it to be used as a filler in composites. In this study, pine cone reinforced high density polyethylene (HDPE) composites were produced and characterized. The pine cones were collected from Izmir region of Turkey. Granular high density polyethylene (S0464) was obtained from Petkim Petrokimya Holding LTD. The pine cones were cut into 1 cm pieces using a knife and pulverized by grinding in a ring mill. Firstly, two HDPE plates with dimensions of 1x350x350 mm were manufactured. Then, different percentage amounts of powdered pine cones were added to between the plates by weight (5 percent, 10 percent, 15 percent and 20 percent). Afterwards, under the same conditions, pine cone reinforced YYPE composites with different percentage of 2x350x350 mm were obtained. Finally, the mechanical properties of composites were determined at room temperature. Tension, compression, bending and low-velocity impact behaviors were evaluated with various curves.