Mechanical properties of structural paper-polypropylene composite laminates

Natural fiber reinforced polymers have gained increasing interest in research with the aim of replacing conventional reinforcements, such synthetic or glass fibers. In this work, whole paper sheets of copy, filter and newspaper were used for fabricating cellulose fiber reinforced polypropylene composites with maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene (MAPP) as a coupling agent. By varying the amount and type of paper, the influence of these parameters on the mechanical properties was observed. The laminates were produced by a film hand stacking method and hot pressing. The characterization was carried out by tensile and flexural testing. Remarkable results were obtained for copy and newspaper composites at a fiber content of 30 and 40 vol.-%. In summary, structural paper reinforced composites with attractive mechanical properties were obtained, indicating the high potential of whole paper sheets as polymer reinforcement.