Article

Journal of Reinforced Plastics

and Composites

Helium gas barrier and water absorption 31(23) 16381651

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DOI: 10.1177/0731684412464090
recycled polypropylene jrp.sagepub.com

H Boukehili and P Nguyen-Tri

Abstract
Helium gas permeability and water absorption behavior of the recycled polypropylene/short bamboo fiber composite
membrane were investigated. The effects of short bamboo fiber content and fiber chemical treatment on gas perme-
ability and water absorption properties of composites have been examined. Our research showed that the solubility
coefficient of helium increased as the fiber content of the bamboo increases but the diffusivity coefficient seemed to
decrease with increasing amount of bamboo fiber in the composite formulation due to the poor adhesion between
bamboo fiber and polymer matrix. The structure of recycled polypropylene/bamboo fibers have also investigates by
X-ray diffraction technique. The chemical treatment of the bamboo fiber by alkali solution increased fiber surface
roughness within the composite; in consequence, a more homogeneous dispersion of these fibers appears in the polymer
matrix. The process of absorption of water was found to follow the kinetics and mechanisms described by Ficks theory.
A considerable loss in mechanical properties of the water-saturated samples after 3 months of aging in water was
observed and this reduction could be delayed by fiber chemical treatment. This study provided the useful information
about the behavior of recycled polypropylene/bamboo fiber composite materials during their service life time.

Keywords
Bamboo fibers, helium gas permeability, recycled polypropylene

bamboo is a species of grass, which thrives in tropical

Introduction
During the past 10 years, polymer composites rein-
forced by vegetable bers have been intensively devel-
oped not only in fundamental research but also in
various industrial elds because of their enormous
advantages.18 These advantages involve improved
mechanical properties, low cost, absence of adverse
environmental eects, and these materials also repre-
sent an abundant resource. This is particularly the
case with bamboo bers (BFs).
Indeed, the BFs possess already three valuable qua-
lities: good mechanical strength, high hardness, and
relatively low density. In the automotive industry, for
example, the weight reduction of automotive parts has
always been a priority for production. This is why the
industry is developing more and more interior parts
with composites reinforced by vegetable bers. In con-
trast to classical reinforcements like glass ber derived
from petrochemical resources and nonrenewable,
countries, and grows very fast, sometimes up to 1 m per
month. It is, therefore, a rapidly renewable natural raw
material. Currently, it is estimated that there are over
1500 species distributed over an area of about 14.5 mil-
lion hectares. This diversity expands the potential
opportunities for exploitation. Bamboo has been trans-
formed into a variety of products that are used in all
parts of the earth from household items to industrial
applications because it has both environmental, eco-
nomic, and technical potential.
Protective Materials and Equipments for Occupational Safety and Health,
Ecole de technologie superieure, Canada
Corresponding author:
P Nguyen-Tri, Protective Materials and Equipments for Occupational
Safety and Health, Ecole de technologie superieure, Montreal, QC H3C
1K3, Canada.
Email: Phuong.nguyen-tri@etsmtl.ca
Boukehili and Nguyen-Tri 1639

Today, BFs have been used to reinforce a variety of

polymers of very dierent characteristics, biodegrad-
able or nonbiodegradable, amorphous or semi-crystal-
line and also thermoset resins including polyethylene
(PE),9,10 polypropylene (PP),1115 polylactide,1619
polyvinyl chloride,20,21 epoxy resins,2224 and also sev-
eral polyester resins.25,26 These polymers t well with
vegetable bers due to their low cost and their low-
temperature processing (from room temperature to
about 220 C) and thus avoid thermal degradation of
vegetable bers. Addition of vegetable bers could
make materials lighter, cheaper, and enhance their
desirable properties.
Among the thermoplastic polymer, PP is the most
widely studied and commonly used due to a number of
highly appreciated properties such as high impact Figure 1. BFs observed by SEM.
strength, high tensile strength, good chemical resist- BF: bamboo fiber; SEM: scanning electron microscopy.
ance, low density, and also rather low cost.27 PP/vege-
table composites have been extensively studied over the
past 10 years, because they can oer property improve- provided by ARKEMA (France), with MFI of 10 g/
ments without compromising the material density.2830 min (230 C/2.16 kg) and MA content grafted of 1%
The hydrophilic nature of BFs results a low inter- (by weight).27 BFs were prepared by a mechanical
actions with hydrophobic polymers especially polyole- separating method at the Polymer Center from
n like PE and PP. Physical and chemical surface bamboo culms of Hoa Binh province (Vietnam). The
treatments of bers sometimes are necessary to improve scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image of BF is
the adhesion between the polymer matrix and the bers shown in Figure 1. The ber chemical treatment pro-
surface. Several chemical BF treatments including cedures are described in detail in the previous
alkali treatment, acetylating, silane treatment, peroxide papers.41,42
immersion or polymer grafted3136 have been success-
fully used to modify ber surface. The main objectives
of these treatments are to improve the compatibility
Preparation of composites
and increase the surface roughness of the bers and, RPP, compatibilizer, and BFs are dried at 105 C in
thus, increase the adhesion between ber and matrix vacuum before melt blending in a co-rotating twin-
polymer. Several physical treatment methods such as screw extruder HAAKE with length-to-diameter ratio
plasma or electrical discharge are also used to change (L/D) 40:1 with a temperature prole range from 175 C
the ber surface properties in certain applications.3739 to 190 C.42 All samples are produced at the same screw
Previously, results on morphology, properties, and speed (300 r/min). Extruded composite pellets are then
structure of recycled PP (RPP)/BF composites were injected at 190 C in order to obtain specimens for mea-
reported.27,4043 This article presents some additional suring mechanical properties. Table 1 presents the
results on helium gas permeability and absorption appropriate nomenclature of the various agro-compo-
behavior of short BF reinforced RPP composites. site formulations.
These properties are signicant for identifying the
application area and determining the useful lifetime of
Scanning electron microscopy
prepared RPP composites. Dierent crystal forms of
RPP/BFs composite and transcrystalline were also SEM studies were conducted using a Stereoscan
investigated. (Cambridge Instruments) to analyze the fracture behav-
ior of the composites. The fracture ends of the tensile
specimens were mounted on aluminum stubs and gold
Experimental coated to avoid electrical charging during examination.
Materials
X-ray diffraction measurement
RPP was prepared in our laboratory with initial melt
ow index (MFI) of 16.2 g/10 min (230 C/2.16 kg).27 The X-ray diraction (XRD) analyses of composite
The compatibilizer, OREVAC C100, is a maleic anhyd- samples were carried out on an X-Pert Pro PAN dif-
ride grafted PP (MAPP), an experimental product fractrometer using Cu-Ka as anode tube with radiation
1640 Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 31(23)

Table 1. Helium gas permeability data obtained from RPP and composite membranes measured at room temperature

RPP BF Compatibilizer Permeable Permeability

Sample (wt%) (wt%) (wt%) (m3/m2/day/bar) (m3 m/m2/day/bar)

RPP 100 0 10 2.65  1012 5.74  1013

RPPBF10 90 10 10 2.99  1012 5.85  1013
RPPBF20 80 20 10 3.27  1012 6.14  1013
RPPBF30 70 30 10 4.36  1012 6.89  1013
RPPBF40 60 40 10 4.72  1012 9.38  1013
RPPBF50 50 50 10 12.36  1012 27.43  1013
RPPAlBF10 90 10 10 1.89  1012 4.73  1013
RPPAcBF10 90 10 10 2.371  1012 3.81  1013
MAPP 0 0 100 0.84  1012 2.28  1013
RPP: recycled polypropylene; BF: bamboo fiber; AlBF: alkali Bamboo fiber; AcBF: acetylated bamboo fiber; and MAPP: maleic anhydride grafted
polypropylene.

wavelength of 1.540 A and scintillation counter as of helium gas transfers through the membrane per unit
detector at 40 kV and 50 mA. area per unit time t, with the gas diusion coecient
(D) is given by equation (1)
Optical microscopy observation    
DC e2 2eC X
1
1n Dn2 2 t
The spherulites structure and transcrystalline layer of Q t  2 exp 1
e 6D  n1 n2 e2
composite samples were shown using a transmission
optical microscopy Leica (resolution of 300 nm). where e is the polymer membrane thickness, C the
Sample thickness was about 5 mm prepared by a helium gas concentration, and t the testing time.
rotary microtome. When a steady ow is reached, t is large and thus
could the exponential term is negligible. Thus, equation
Gas barrier permeability (1) may be written as follows

Helium gas permeability measurements were performed  

DC e2
by direct cell method using a helium mass spectrometer. Q t 2
e 6D
Polymer membranes having a 23.75 cm2 surface area
are put in to aluminum round cell with two chambers
separated by the polymer membrane: chamber contain- The delay time (time lag) denoted tL can be obtained
ing nitrogen gas and another containing helium gas from the slope of the curves of the sum of gas ows
with equal pressure (Figure 2). The nitrogen gas ow over time, as follows
helps to maintain pressure constant between two cham-
bers and thus induces a delta of zero pressure. It is well
e2
known that the permeability and solubility are the two tL 3
main processes that determine mass transfer. The per- 6D
meability of gas molecules or liquid depends on their
The time lag (tL) can be linked to the time at steady-
solubility and diusion through the polymer. In order
state tss by this simple formulation tss 2.7 tL. The dif-
to measure the solubility, diusivity, and permeability
fusivity coecient (D) is then written
coecients of the membranes containing RPP/BF, it is
hypothesized that the helium gas sorption obeys
Henrys law. This is the simplest gas sorption mode e2
D 4
in which the polymerpolymer interactions are domin- 6tL
ant compared to others (polymerdiusing and dius-
ingdiusing interactions). This model considers that The permeability coecient (P) is given by the follow-
the evolution of absorbed gas is a linear function with ing equation
applied pressure. It assumes also that the gas concen-
tration in polymer membrane is equal to zero. In this J:e
P 5
case, it describes the relationship between the total mass p2  p1
Boukehili and Nguyen-Tri
Helium leak
detector
(mbar.l.s1)
Recorder
O-ring
Helium gas (80ml/min)
Figure 2. Description of helium gas permeability equipment.
where p2  p1 is the dierence of pressure between the
two chambers separated by the polymer membrane, J
the ux at steady-state, and e denotes membrane thick-
ness. The solubility coecient (S) can be calculated
from P and D
S P=D 6 forced by chemically treated BFs is more dicult
Result and discussion
Helium gas permeability
Table 1 presents all data obtained for the helium gas
transport through the RPP and RPP/BF composite
membranes. It shows that the incorporation of a low
ber content (less than 20 wt%) did not signicantly
aect the helium gas permeability of the polymer
membrane. However, the further addition of BFs to
the composite formulation led to an increase in helium
gas permeability. The helium gas permeability of com-
posites containing of 50 wt% BF is approximately
multiplied ve times compared to that of the neat
one. We observed that the chemical treatment of the
ber reduces the helium gas permeability of polymer
membrane. The helium permeability values decrease
approximately 22% and 45% after treatment with
sodium hydroxide and acetylation, respectively, com-
pared to that of an untreated sample (Table 1).
Figures 3 and 4 show the experimental results of
helium gas ows through the RPP, compatibilizer,
and RPP/BF composite membranes as a function of
time. Figure 3 shows that the incorporation of high
content of BFs (over 40% by weight) leads to a signi-
cantly increase of helium permeability of materials.
1641
Nitrogen gas (60ml/min)
Polymer
membrane
It may be observed from Figure 3 that MAPP compa-
tibilizer membranes have better barrier properties
than both neat RPP and composite membranes.
The chemical treatment of BF enhances the barrier
properties of polymer membrane because the gas trans-
mission through the membrane of composites rein-
than transmission through the composite membranes
reinforced by natural BFs. This may be due to the
better adhesion at BF and polymer matrix interphase
(Figure 4).
Permeability is the nal stage of the transport pro-
cess of a gas (water vapor) and represents both gas
solubility and gas diusivity in the polymer materials.
It is interesting to investigate the implications of these
two factors on the gas transport process through the
polymer membrane. The helium permeability of
10 wt% compatibilized composite shows a reduction
of helium permeability by the factor 2 compared with
the one without compatibilizer.
Figure 5 shows the evolution of solubility and diu-
sivity coecients as a function of BF content. It shows
clearly that, incorporation of BF in the RPP matrix
decreases the diusivity coecient of helium gas and
increases the solubility coecient. These changes are
more accelerated at high BF rate (more than 20 wt%).
The helium gas permeability of composites did not sig-
nicantly change with increased BF content when the
BF is lower than 20 wt% due to the balance eect
(P D  S), as shown in Figure 6. However, higher
BF content added (more than 30 wt%) signicantly
increased the gas solubility and hence the gas perme-
ability. It is well known that the presence of high con-
centration of the rigid phase in a polymer matrix can
decrease the homogeneity of the system and increase
1642 Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 31(23)

RPP
7,0E-04
RPP+10wt%BF
RPP+20wt%BF
RPP+30wt%BF
Helium flow (mbar.l.s1) 5,0E-04 RPP+40wt%BF
RPP+50wt%BF

3,0E-04

1,0E-04

1,0E-04
1,0E+00 1,0E+01 1,0E+02 1,0E+03 1,0E+04
Log t (s)

Figure 3. Stabilized helium gas flow of RPP and the composite membranes with different BF contents.
RPP: recycled polypropylene; BF: bamboo fiber.

2,0E-04

RPP+20wt% original BF

RPP+20wt% alkali BF

1,5E-04 RPP+20wt% acetylated

BF
AMPP
Helium flow (mbar.l.s1)

1,0E-04

5,0E-05

0,0E+00

5,0E-05
1,0E+00 1,0E+01 1,0E+02 1,0E+03 1,0E+04
Log t (s)

Figure 4. Stabilized helium gas flow through RPP, compatibilizer, and different composite membranes.
RPP: recycled polypropylene; BF: bamboo fiber; AlBF: alkali bamboo fiber; and AcBF: acetylated bamboo fiber.
Boukehili and Nguyen-Tri 1643

the inorganic voids, thereby, boost the gas diusivity

while the diusivity coecient does not depend to the
Water absorption behavior
same extent on BF content. The latter could explain The water absorption phenomenon of composites
why an increase of helium gas permeability at high reinforced with vegetable bers is responsible for the
BF content has been observed (Figure 5). degradation of composite performances during their

4,0E+02

3,0E+02
(m3(STP).m.m2.day1.bar1)
Permeability.1013

2,0E+02

1,0E+02

0,0E+00
0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Bamboo fiber content (%)

Figure 5. Helium gas permeability of RPP/BF composite membranes as a function of BF content.

RPP: recycled polypropylene; BF: bamboo fiber.

1.6E-01 5.5E-11

Sollubility cofficient
(cm3(STP).cm-3 (mmHg).bar-

1.2E-01 Diffusivity coefficient

Sollubility coefficient

3.5E-11
Diffusivity coefficient

8.0E-02
(m2.s-1)

1.5E-11
4.0E-02

0.0E+00 -5.0E-12
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Bamboo fibers content (%)

Figure 6. Diffusivity coefficient and solubility coefficients as a function of BF content.

BF: bamboo fiber.
1644
service life. In fact, water can penetrate into the com-
posite materials and interact with polar functions on
the BFs/matrix interface due to the hydrophilic nature
of BFs and also interact with the hydrophilic groups at
the surface of BFs. The RPP does not aect water
absorption of composites due to its nonpolar charac-
teristic. The amount of water absorbed was calculated
by the weight dierence of samples before and after
immersion. Figure 7 shows the relationship between
water mass gains (WMGs) of PP-recycled composites
with dierent BF contents as a function of water
immersion time at room temperature. We nd that
the water absorption of composites over time
approaches the Fick theory; that means the relation-
ship between WMG and the square root of time
(times1/2) is relatively linear until saturation is reached.
We observe that the rate of WMG increases very rap-
idly during the rst stages (t1/2  20). It shows that the
WMG increases with the increases of the ber content
due to the hydrophilic character of BFs. The WMG at
equilibrium state increased from 3% with sample con-
taining 10 wt% BF to about 12% for composite sam-
ples containing 50 wt% of BF. RPP is a not a polar
polymer, it absorbs almost no water, even after 3
months of aging in water (t1/2 46.47 h1/2).
It is interesting that treatment with sodium hydrox-
ide decreases the amount of water absorption of a com-
posite sample. This can be attributed to better adhesion
between bers surface and matrix polymer, thus
decreasing the diusion of water molecules in the
14
RPP
12 RPP+10%BF
RPP+20%BF
Water absorption (%)
10 RPP+30%BF
RPP+40%BF
8 RPP+50%BF
0
1 10
Figure 7. Evolution of WMG of RPP and its composites as a function of aging time.
WMG: water mass gain; RPP: recycled polypropylene; and BF: bamboo fiber.
Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 31(23)
composite. The amount of water absorbed at steady-
state, for a sample containing 20 wt% alkali BFs
(AlBFs) is about 3.6%, which is much less than that
containing untreated bers, as shown in Figure 8. The
combination of pretreatment with sodium hydroxide
followed by acetylation of bers can further reduce
the amount of water absorbed over time. WMG value
at the equilibrium state of the composite reinforced by
acetylated BFs (AcBFs) is about 2.3%, a decrease of
60% compared to that of untreated BF composites
(5.6%). This can be explained by the better dispersion
of bers in the polymer matrix that, thus, perturbs the
water diusion.
One of most important parameter of Ficks law is
the diusion coecient. This value provides useful
information about the ability of solvent molecules to
penetrate inside composite material. The diusion coef-
cient can be calculated by the use of the following
equation44
Mt =M1 4=e  D=0:5 t0:5 7
where e is the thickness of the sample, Mt the mass of
sample at moment t, M1 the mass of sample at equi-
librium state, and D the diusion coecient.
The diusion coecient D is obtained from the
slope of the linear region of the curves between Mt/
M1 and t0.5.
Figure 9 shows the diusion coecients of RPP and
its composites. It shows that the diusion coecient
100 1000 10000
Time (h)
Boukehili and Nguyen-Tri 1645

RPP+20wt%
5 non-treated bamboo fibers

4
Water absorption (%)

RPP+20wt%
3 Alkali bamboo fibers

2 RPP+20wt%
Acetylated bamboo fibers

RPP

0
0 10 20 30 40 50
Time1/2 (t1/2)

Figure 8. Effect of treatment method on the evolution of WMG of RPP and its composites.
WMG: water mass gain; RPP: recycled polypropylene.

agreement with the literature.44 Figure 8 shows also

Figure 9. Diffusion coefficient D of RPP and its composites.
RPP: recycled polypropylene; BF: bamboo fiber; AlBF: alkali
bamboo fiber; and AcBF: acetylated bamboo fiber.
increases with the increase of ber loading for all
composites. This can be explained by the hydrophilic
character of BF which is favorable to the inclusion of
water molecules and the increase of interfacial surface
by further addition of ber loading facilitates the trans-
port and diusing processes. These results are in good
that at the same level of ber content, chemical treat-
ment of ber surface led to a reduction of the diusion
coecient. Better adhesion and compatibility between
the components is responsible for this decrease because
there is less void space or gaps in the interfacial region
and more hydroxyl groups are blocked by acetyl groups
during the acetylating treatment. The highest diusion
coecient is found in the case of composites containing
50 wt% BF due to the poor adhesion and the presence
of the agglomerates in the composite as shown in the
previous paper.42
To understand the changes of mechanical properties
of RPP/BFs composite during aging by immersion in
water, we determined the evolution of tensile strength
and impact resistance of composite samples as a func-
tion of aging time.
Figure 10 shows the comparison of tensile strength
of composites with dierent ber contents before and
after 3 months of aging in water at room temperature
(25 C). It appears that the tensile strength of compos-
ites signicantly decreases after 3 months of aging in
water. However, this decrease was less pronounced at
low BF content. A similar trend is observed with
Charpy impact resistance. When ber loadings are
important, the impact resistance of composites after
3 months of aging decreases signicantly and becomes
even lower than that of neat RPP (Figure 11). The
swelling phenomenon of BFs by water absorbed over
1646 Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 31(23)

Figure 10. Tensile strength of RPP and its composites before and after aging in water.
RPP: recycled polypropylene.

Figure 11. Charpy impact resistance of RPP and its composites before and after aging in water.
RPP: recycled polypropylene.
Boukehili and Nguyen-Tri 1647

Before aging After 3 months aging

RPP RPP

RPP + 20 wt% BF RPP + 20 wt% BF

RPP + 20 wt% Alkali BF RPP + 20 wt% Alkali BF

RPP + 20 wt% Acetylated BF RPP + 20 wt% Acetylated BF

Figure 12. Fractography of RPP and its composites before (on the left) and after (on the right) 3 months aging in water at room
temperature.
RPP: recycled polypropylene; BF: bamboo fiber; AlBF: alkali bamboo fiber; and AcBF: acetylated bamboo fiber.
1648
Figure 13. Transcrystalline area in BF and RPPmatrix interface.
BF: bamboo fiber; RPP: recycled polypropylene.
time reduces the mechanical properties of composites
after aging. The absorption of water by the bers can
also reduce the adhesion between the matrix and the
BFs and thus reduce the performance of composite.
We observed the damage around BFs, the matrix/
BFs interface before and after 3 months of aging in
water by SEM technique. Figure 12 shows the SEM
images of RPP and their composites at similar ber
content before and after 3 months of aging in water.
We observed poor adhesion at the interface of RPP/
untreated BF composites after 3 months of aging in
water. There were even several spacing and gaps
around the surface of theBFs which may be due to
the dampening by absorbed water, thus reducing the
material compatibility. By contrast, there was no sig-
nicant change at the interface of composites reinforced
by chemically treated BFs after 3 months of aging.
The structure and form of polymer crystals are
important and are directly linked to the properties of
materials as mentioned above. XRD technique was
used to determine the dierent crystal forms of RPP/
BFs. Figure 13 shows the XRD pattern of composites
with dierent BF contents. It clearly shows that all dif-
fraction peaks corresponding to the diraction angle
(2) at 16.4 19.8 , 21.8 , 24.8 , and 25.64 are,
Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 31(23)
respectively, due to reections of planes (1 0 0) (0 4 0)
(1 3 0) (1 1 1) (1 3 1). These peaks correspond to mono-
clinic a-PP crystals. It appears a new peak at the angle
2 about 18.89 since BFs are added, which can be
attributed to the b-RPP crystals45,46 in these compos-
ites. The b-form PP (Allen) is a metastable state which
occurs less commonly than the a-form. However, both
forms sometimes can coexist under special conditions
and the proportion of these two phases depends on
thermal treatment and the nucleation process.
The formation mechanism of metastable b-PP and
its eect on the nal properties of materials is the
subject of several studies4751 but it remains a topic
about which there are many assumptions. Li et al.49
considered that the form b-PP is a macromolecular
structure that governs the PP chain orientation.
Menyhard et al.51 conrmed that the transformation
from a polymorphism metastable b-PP phase to a
more thermodynamically stable a-PP phase pass via a
recrystallization of crystals.
In case of RPP/BF composites, the presence of BFs
is favorable for the formation of metastable hexagonal
crystals. The intensity of the b-PP form peak is propor-
tional to BFs in the composite. The presence of the
b-PP form can be explained by the disruption eect
Boukehili and Nguyen-Tri
Recycled PP matrix
Transcrystalline area
Bamboo fiber
Figure 14. Diffractography of RPP and its composites:
(a) RPP; (b) RPP + 10% BF; (c) RPP + 20% BF; (d) RPP + 30% BF;
and (e) RPP + 50% BF.
RPP: recycled polypropylene; BF: bamboo fiber.
of polymer mobility by BFs during the crystallization.
This perturbation prevents the correct rearrangement
of RPP chains. These results agreewell with those of
other authors5254 who showed the formation of the
metastable b-PP form in the composite PP is reinforced
by nanollers or ax ber.
The formation of the b-PP form can be linked also to
the transcrytalline area around BF surface where
the mesomorphic highly disordered form is formed
(Figure 14). It can be clearly seen that a crystalline
area has developed at the ber surface and RPP inter-
face. This phenomenon is often observed in the case of
composites reinforced by natural bers when the crys-
tallization process from the melt is carried out at a low
cooling rate or under isothermal conditions.5557 The
existence of a transcrystalline layer could aect not
only the spherulites morphology and phase structure
but also the mechanical properties of the materials by
shear stresses and formation of a protective sheath
around bers.
Conclusion
The helium gas permeability of the RPP and its compos-
ite reinforced by BF was investigated. The results show
that helium gas permeability is strongly dependent upon
BF content and chemical ber treatment method. When
the BF content is lower than 30%, the helium gas per-
meability remains constant with increasing BF content
but since the BF addition is important, helium gas per-
meability increases with increased BF content due to the
hydrophilic character of BF. The chemical treatment of
ber signicantly improves the impermeability to helium
gas and reduces the amount of water absorption and
1649
thus maintains the longer service lifetime of material.
A decrease in tensile properties and Charpy impact
resistance of the composites was demonstrated, showing
a great loss in mechanical properties of the water-
saturated samples after 3 months of aging in water.
The presence of BF favors the formation of the metasta-
ble b-PP form in the composite PP due to polymer chain
disruption during crystallization, thus preventing the
correct alignment of RPP chains. The transcrystalline
phenomenon is also observed around of BFs.
RPP reinforced with BF presents useful new proper-
ties and opens future prospects for reinforcement of
polymer materials by vegetable bers, particularly in
the case of recycling.
Funding
This project was supported by Vietnamese Government
(grant number 322-QD/CP).
Acknowledgments
This study was supported by Vietnamese government (grant
no. 322 QD/CP). The authors thank Dr Patrice Lefrancois
(CNAM, Paris) for SEM observation and Pr. Bui Chuong,
Head of polymer center of Hanoi University of technology,
for his help during the preparation of BFs. They are also
grateful to Pr. Jack R Plimmer, USDA, Agricultural
Research Service, USA (retired), for his ne discussions
during this study.
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