MICROLIF (Development of Microfiber Reinforced Polymer Composites at Industrial Scale)

Plastic materials are relatively cheap, easy to process, light, high chemical and corrosion resistance materials. Also their weak properties can be improved with another polymer or with continuous / discontinuous reinforcement materials. Studies on this subject are increasing day by day.

This project is aimed to improved mechanical properties of the matrix polymer by blending two polymers with different technique. These composite structures that have not yet been commercialized referred to as “microfibre reinforced composites (MFC) in the literature, the reinforcing polymer is dispersed to form microfibers in another polymer with a lower melting point. The fibers in the composite structure improves mechanical strength of the matrix material. The literature studies show that microfibre reinforcement is almost equivalent to the performance %30 cropped glass fiber reinforced composites.

In this project, it is aimed to increase the mechanical strength values of Polyethylene (PE) and Polypropylene (PP) by using a blending technique different from the existing techniques, and to obtain product and know-how with commercial potential as a result of the project.