Abstract
Hybrid reinforced bio-composite material was developed in this study from polypropylene, calcium carbonate and waste cow bone. The cow bone was calcinated, pulverised and sieved to obtain 3 particle sizes (< 53, 63 and 75 µm) that were added to CaCO 3 to form hybrid composites. The composites were developed with hot compression moulding machine using predetermined proportions of the composite constituents. XRF analysis shows that the cow bone is primarily CaO/P 2 O 5 while XRD revealed higher crystallinity in < 53 µm particle sizes. Mechanical and wear properties of the CaCO 3 /calcinated cow bone-derived CaO/P 2 O 5 particulate reinforced polypropylene (PP) composites were evaluated as a function of the varied calcinated cow bone (CCB) particulates. The result showed that the mechanical and wear properties of the hybrid reinforced CaCO 3-CCB-PP composites were mostly enhanced when < 53 µm was added to the other common additives (CaCO 3 and PP) with the exception of ultimate tensile strength which was enhanced by 63 µm. The improvement in all these properties mainly for 3-6 wt. % reinforced composites was due to the incorporation of CaCO 3 and calcinated cow bone-derived CaO/P 2 O 5. The results displayed an almost linear relationship between the wear properties and CCB both in terms of mass and particle size.