Mechanical Properties of Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Polypropylene Composites

Abstract

In this paper, the mechanical properties of carbon fiber polypropylene composites prepared under various process conditions were investigated. Two different types of polypropylene composites were produced by mixing and compressing the mixtures using hot press. The mixture was prepared by mixing polypropylene with chopped carbon fiber and carbon fiber percentage (wt%) was varied. Mechanical properties investigated were tensile test, impact test, bending test and density test. The Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) was employed to study the morphology of the composites. The highest tensile strength was obtained for polypropylene (MFI 60) composites reinforced with 10 wt% carbon fiber. The composite also exhibited the best tensile and flexural properties.