Polypropylene/Date Palm Fiber Nano Filler Biocomposites: Investigation of Some Rheological Aspects

Rotational rheology was used to analyze the performance of polypropylene (PP) composites reinforced with date palm nanofiber (DNF) in the molten state in this study. In the first stage, mechanical ball milling was used to obtain date nanofillers with average filler sizes ranging from 30–110 nm in width and 1–10 mm in length. Dry blending technique was used to reinforce this filler to the polypropylene in the 1-5wt. % loading. The resulting PP/DNF biocomposites were subsequently tested using a rotating rheometer with a 25 mm parallel plate geometry. The broad range of angular frequency from 0.1 rad·s⁻¹ to 100 rad·s⁻¹ was applied to study their complex viscosity (η*) at a fix strain (1%). The decrease in complex viscosity with angular frequency in all the samples was observed compared to the neat PP. The complex viscosity of the neat PP and the 5 wt.% of filler samples at 0.1 rad·s⁻¹ frequency was found to have 18170 Pa. s and 5335 Pa. s, respectively. Therefore, this analysis revealed that this biocomposites exhibits typical viscoelastic behavior of entangled polymeric liquid.