Investigation of the thermal and mechanical properties of borax on bio based polymeric composites

With the development of technology, interest in composite material production has increased. This also increases the interest in natural fiber reinforced composite materials. Numerous researches have been made to improve the physical and mechanical properties of such materials and to reduce costs in order to make the composite materials more economical. In this study, composite material is produced using pine sawdust which is seen as waste and disposed of by incineration and recycled polyethylene as binder and the effects of borax to this composite were investigated. In this study, filler ratio, compatibilizer and borax were analysed as parameters and mechanical analyses were performed on the produced composites. The materials used were characterised by FTIR and DSC. Morphological structure and LOI indexes were also measured in the obtained composites. In the results obtained, it was determined that the mechanical and thermal behaviours of composite materials produced from wastes can be used in many applications. With more detailed and numerical modelling, it was determined that biobased composites performed in the study could be used according to the desired product type and intended use. It can be said that the strength increases as the MagPE ratio increases. With increasing filling (sawdust) rate; it is an expected result that the % elongation decreases, and so is the result. It was determined that the borax additive and the MagPE had no effect on % elongation. It was noted that the increase in the amount of borax in swelling tests did not affect the behavior in volume and mass. It was observed that borax amount did not have a significant effect on elongation in samples with high sawdust rate. It was observed that the strength was higher in the samples with 30% and 50% sawdust rate and was not affected much by the change of borax ratio. Keywords: Bio based composites, Borax, Composite material.