Influence of nut shell powder content on the tribological properties of recycled polyolefin composites

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of nut shell powder (NSP) content on the tribological properties of recycled polyolefin (R-PO) composites. NSP was previously grinded the dried nut shell by crusher machine cryogenically in liquid nitrogen. NSP/R-PO composites with NSP content of 5, 10 and 20 vol.% were prepared in this study. These composites were extruded by a twin screw extruder and injection-molded. Their tribological properties were measured by a reciprocating type sliding wear tester at constant normal load and sliding speed under dry condition. It was found that NSP is effective for reducing the wear resistance of R-PO, and the influence of NSP content on the tribological properties of NSP/R-PO composites does not remarkably appear, but they are improved with the addition of low content such as 5 vol.%. This may be attributed to the change of wear mechanism according to the filling of NSP. © 2016 Author(s).