Abstract:
In this work, chemically treated wheat straw fibres were used to reinforce polymer Polypropylene in order to ascertain the effect of the treatments on the mechanical and water absorption properties of the composites produced. Wheat straw fibre was first extracted from its husk by soaking it in water and was dried before it was cut into fibres form. It was then chemically treated in alkali solution of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and potassium hydroxide (KOH) in a shaker water bath. The treated wheat straw fibres were used as reinforcements in polypropylene matrix to produce composites of varied fibre weight and random fibre orientation were used. Tensile and flexural properties were investigated using universal testing machine while water absorption test was carried out on the samples for 24 hours. It was observed from the results that, NaOH treated samples gave the best tensile properties while KOH treated samples gave the best flexural and water repellent properties.
