MANUFACTURING POLYMER COMPOSITES REINFORCED WITH POULTRY FEATHERS AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES

Abstract

In the last years, there has been an increasing interest in using natural materials as reinforcements in polymeric composites. This is not only for environmental reasons but also for their properties and sustainabilit . Chicken feathers are a waste by product of the poultry industry, with more than 4.10 ton worldwide annually produced. The feather waste is usually disposed by either subjected for burning or landfill, which is considered as expensive process and not environmentally friend. The proposal solution is to utilize chicken feather as reinforcements in composites to offer environmental and economical solution for feather disposal. This work was carried out to investigation the possibilities of utilizing animal fibers as reinforcement in polymeric materials. For the determination of the chemical properties of chicken feathers was carried out according to AOAC standard. Physical and mechanical properties such as thickness swelling, water absorption, tensile strength, flexural modulus, hardness etc. were evaluated. Preferable values were obtained with reinforced mixture ratio as 30: 70 (wt 0/0) of feather fiber/marble dust in the polymer composites.