Polymer based composite production

In this study flax fiber has been used as a raw material while PA66 has been chosen as matrix. The flax fiber has been pyrolyzed in a fixed bed reactor with different process parameters with temperature (400°C, 500°C, 700°C) and retention time (1 and 3 hours). The flax fiber pyrolysis char product and PA66 has been processed at the extruder by melt compounding and shaped at injection moulding. Carbon fiber and flax fiber pyrolysis char product has been mixed to produce composite material. The effect of HNO3 modification has been investigated upon carbon fiber and flax fiber pyrolysis char product. PA66 composite material products have been prepared with modified carbon fiber and flax fiber pyrolysis char product. Tensile test, water absorption test and thermal conductivity test has been conducted on prepared composite material products. To examine the thermal behavior of composite material products thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) has been used and the morphological properties of products has been observed with scanning electron microscopy characterization method. Furthermore the properties of carbon fiber and flax fiber pyrolysis char product has been determined with elemental analysis, FT-IR and BET analysis. Modification has provided development on mechanical properties of composite materials. The tensile strength has been found as 90.5 MPa for composite materials including carbon fiber while it has been found as 89 MPa for composite materials including 50% carbon fiber, 50% pyrolysis solid product with 10% reinforcement. The improvement has been achieved compared to pure PA66 with a tensile strength of 70.6 MPa. Keywords: Biomass, Pyrolysis, Carbon Fiber, Polymer, Characterization