OPTIMIZATION OF AVOCADO WOOD FLOUR POLYMER COMPOSITE

Abstract

This research was aimed at optimizing the properties of avocado wood flour/high density polyethylene composite (AW/HDPE).
The effect of particle size (P1) and filler weight (P2) on the tensile strength (ZTS), flexural strength (ZFS), impact strength (ZIM)
and water absorption (ZW) properties of the composite was examined. The avocado wood flour (AW) was compounded into fine
particles (100-20 mesh) at 5-25 % wt with high density polyethylene (HDPE) by injection molding. The optimization process
was done using a quadratic function of central composite design to forecast the optimum size and filler weight on the propert ies
of the composite. The optimum input variables were 80 mesh and 21.62 % for P1 and P2. The optimum output variables were
25.652 MPa, 55.168 MPa, 47.397 KJ/m2 and 2.782 % for ZTS,ZFS, ZIM and ZW, respectively. The error between the experiment
and response surface methodology (RSM) model at optimum is less than 1%, which indicated a good prediction of the model.
This shows that RSM model is appropriate for the optimization of avocado wood flour polymer composite. Natural filler should
be considered as a suitable substitute to conventional non-metal compound use as filler in the production of avocado wood flour
polymer composite for furniture application.