Thermogravimetric Analysis of Untreated Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia Crassipes)/HDPE Composites

Abstract

This research is aimed to study the effect of fibre content on thermal stability of a new composite made of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) with HDPE. Dried stalks of water hyacinth were chopped into short fibres. The chopped fibres were mixed with high density polyethylene (HDPE) using an internal mixer followed by hot-pressing at 140 °C to form untreated composites in various fibre contents (10, 20, 30, and 40% in weight). The samples were then analyzed using a thermogravimetric analysis instrument (TGA) to obtain a thermograph of the composites at the temperature range of 30-600 °C and heating rate of 20 °C/min. The results show that the decomposition temperature of the composites decreased with the increase of fibre content.