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Comparative Studies on Mechanical Properties of As-received and Recycled Polypropylenes Characteristic of Pure and Recycled Polypropylene. In this study, the mechanical properties and the fracture areas of as-received, recycled, and commercial recycled Polypropylenes (PPs) used for cloth hanger materials were compared. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) test results showed that recycling process did not cause a significant change to the material’s melting point, which stayed in a range of 160-163 o C. Meanwhile, Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) test results showed that the commercial recycled PPs contained of polyethylene (PE), which was not found in the asreceived and recycled PPs. Tensile and hardness tests demonstrated that there were no significant differences between the as-received and recycled PPs. In contrast, tensile test results of the commercial recycled PPs showed that the tensile strength, Young modulus and strain-at-break were lower than those of the as-received PPs by 22.1%, 8.1% and 65.7% respectively. The hardness test results of the commercial recycled PPs showed that the recycling process had a little effect on the material’s hardness. These facts were supported by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) observation on the surface that the contour of the commercial recycled PPs was relatively flatter and had smaller grain size than those of the as-received PPs. This indicated that the commercial recycled PPs were more brittle compared to the recycled PPs. To conclude, the recycled PPs have similar properties to the as-received PPs so that recycled PPs are suitable to be applied as cloth hanger application.

Clay-epoxy nanocomposites were synthesized from DGEBA resin and montmorillonite clay with an in-situ polymerization. One type of untreated clay and two types of organo clay were used to produce the nanocompsoites. The aims of this study were to examine the nanocomposite structure using different tools and to compare the results between the unmodified clay and modified clays as nanofillers. Although diffractogram in reflection mode did not show any apparent peak of both types of materials, the transmitted XRD (X-Ray Difraction) graphs, DSC (Differential Scanning Calorimeter) analysis and TEM (Transmission Electron Microscope) images revealed that the modified clay-epoxy and unmodified clay-epoxy provides different results. Interestingly, the micrographs showed that some of the modified clay layers possessed non-exfoliated layers in the modified clay-epoxy nanocomposites. Clay aggregates and a hackle pattern were found from E-SEM images for both types of nanocomposite materials. It is shown that different tools should be used to determine the nanocomposite structure.

Linear low density polyethylene‐Tapanuli organoclay‐pineapple fiber composites were succesfully synthesized by a melt intercalation method. The clay was modified as an organoclay by a cation exchange reaction using hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (HDTMABr) surfactant. The X‐ray diffraction results of the organoclay exhibited a higher basal spacing of 1.87 nm compared to the unmodified clay of 1.46 nm. The composite tensile strength was enhanced up to 46.4% with the 1 wt% organoclay addition. Both tensile and flexural moduli increased up to 150.6% and 43% with the 3 wt% organoclay addition to the composites. However, the flexural strength of the composites was not improved with the organoclay addition. The addition of organoclay has also decreased the heat deflection temperature of the composites.