Materials Science Forum Submitted: 2016-07-11

ISSN: 1662-9752, Vol. 880, pp 73-76 Accepted: 2016-07-21

doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/MSF.880.73 Online: 2016-11-21
© 2017 Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland

Tensile Properties of Ground Coffee Waste Reinforced Polyethylene

Composite
M. Y. Tan1,a , H. T. N. Kuan1,b* , A. A. Khan1,c
1
Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Faculty of Engineering,
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, 94300 Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia
a
min_e@live.com, bkhtnicholas@feng.unimas.my, cakamir@feng.unimas.my

Keywords: Bio-composite, Ground coffee waste, Particle fibre, SEM, Tensile modulus, Tensile
strength

Abstract. This paper presents composite of oxo-biodegradable high density polyethylene (oxo-
HDPE) and ground coffee waste (GCW). The blends were evaluated at the proportion of 94.5 to 5.5
polymer-filler ratio with different particle sizes, extraction and mercerisation treatments.
Compression moulding has been employed to fabricate the composite. Microstructure of the ground
coffee waste was characterised using SEM. SEM showed the surface of the treated fibres were
coarser as impurities were removed. Chemical modificated GCW showed better adhesion with the
matrix. Both untreated and treated GCW/oxo-HDPE composite improved in tensile modulus.

Introduction
The increasing environmental awareness towards the non-renewable resources are getting lesser and
our inevitable dependence on renewable resources has arisen. Thus, there is a need to hunt for more
eco-friendly materials. Natural fibre is renewable resources where we can obtianed from wood [1],
agriculture waste, such as corn [2] which comprises of celullose, hemicellulose, lignins and
aromatics, waxes and other lipids, ash and water-soluble compounds [3]. Natural fibre is
biodegradable, light weight and sustainable, economic viability, low density, enhance energy
recovery, abundant, ease of separation, reduced dermal and respiratory irritation, good specific
strengths and modulus, low cost and renewable resource [4].
The origin of coffee beans are from the seed of a genus of flowering plants known as Coffea.
They are broadly distributed in the tropical and sub-tropical regions. It is reported that the annual
production of the waste is 6 million tons worldwide [5]. Ground coffee waste has been used for
biofuel production [6] and as source of sugar [7]. The ground coffee waste contains large amount
of organic compound which are fatty acid, lignin, cellulose, hemicelluloses and other
polysaccharides [8] where these valuable compounds make it suitable to be used as reinforcement in
composite. Today, Malaysia has a population of approximately 30 million and the consumption of
coffee is about 800 gram per capita [9]. Since there are a lot of waste generated in Malaysia ground
coffee waste has been selected as the reinforcement for bio-composite fabrication in this research
work.
This research utilises oxo-biodegradable high density polyethylene (oxo-HDPE) made from
petroleum. Oxo-biodegradable plastic is made from polymers containing a small amount of metal
salts which is not heavy metal. The salts catalyse the degradation process by speed it up to degrade
abiotically at the end of its useful life in the presence of oxygen faster than ordinary plastic [10].
The objective of this study is to investigate the composite made with different particle size of
ground coffee waste reinforcement to oxo-HDPE and chemical treatments. The composite
fabricated has been undergone tensile testing and SEM.

Methods and Materials

Ground coffee waste (GCW) (Arabica) was collected from local Starbuck Coffee Company. The
raw material was dried in the oven at 105°C for 24 hours to 1 - 2% moisture content. Sieving
analysis was conducted to separate the size of ground coffee waste in groups (64 - 425 µm, 426 -

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74 4th Asia Conference on Mechanical and Materials Engineering

850 µm, 851 - 1180 µm and mixed size). Commercial oxo-biodegradable high density polyethylene
(HDPE) (density 0.96 g/mL @ 23°C) was used as matrix. GCW were extracted by Soxhlet in a
solvent, n-hexane. It was conducted at reaction temperature of 80 to 95°C for 3 hours. Besides that,
GCW were soaked into 1 % concentration of NaOH solution (0.25 molarity) at room temperature
for 24 hours. After that, the GCW were washed with distilled water until the GCW return to pH 7.
The treated GCW were dried in an oven at 105°C for 24 hours. The compounding of GCW and
oxo-HDPE were prepared by sieving GCW in between oxo-HDPE films followed by compression
moulding in a hydraulic press machine at approximately 3 MPa at 150°C. The proportion of
composite was 5.5% GCW and 94.5% oxo-HDPE. Untreated and treated GCW surface specimens
were investigated via SEM with a table top version (Hitachi TM3030) with 15 kV electron without
coating. Tensile test were conducted using a Shimadzu universal testing machine model AG-300K
IS MS in accordance to ASTM D3039 at a crosshead rate displacement of 1 mm/min. Five different
samples were subjected to tensile test.

Results and Discussion

Figure 1 shows SEM micrographs corresponding to untreated GCW particles, oil extracted GCW
particles, NaOH GCW particles and oil extracted followed by NaOH treatment GCW particles. All
of the GCW particles were having dendritic appearance. As depicted in Figure 1a, there was a
smooth layer on the untreated GCW, it might be a layer of oil covered the surface of the untreated
GCW. In Figure 1b, the surface of the oil extracted GCW appeared to be coarser. It is inferred that
the layer is removed upon oil extraction, which leave the surface exposed. There were also exposed
cellulose microfibrils in Figure 1b. The surface of NaOH treated GCW in Figure 1c was coarser too.
There were a lot of concave surfaces on the GCW which remarked the removal of some of the
impurities. Meanwhile, after oil extraction followed by NaOH treatment (Figure 1d), the cellulose
microfibrils exposed getting lesser and the surface of the GCW seemed a little crumple.
a b c d

Fig. 1: SEM micrograph of a) Untreated GCW, b) Extracted GCW, c) NaOH GCW, d) Extracted +
NaOH GCW magnified 300 times
A total of eight types of composites have been fabricated. As shown in Figure 2a, neat oxo-
HDPE was fabricated to act as the reference having the highest tensile strength of 18.9 MPa. GCW
particle sizes from 64 - 425 µm, 426 - 850 µm, 851 - 1180 µm and mixed size with 5.5% volume
fraction were used to compare the tensile strength of the untreated GCW/oxo-HDPE composites.
Tensile strength suffered a slight decreased with inclusion of GCW. The tensile strength declined as
the particle size increased. The highest tensile strength was at particle size of 65 - 425 µm,
14.8 MPa followed by particle size of 426 - 850 µm, 14.3 MPa, then, mixed size, 12.8 MPa and
finally particle size of 851 - 1180 µm, 12.0 MPa. For a given particulate volume fraction, the
composite tensile strength increases with decreasing particle size [11]. Particles of smaller size have
a higher total surface area for a given particle loading. The increasing surface area gives a more
efficient stress transfer thus giving higher strength. Under loading, large particles debond easily
from the matrix which lead to premature failure of the part. Apart from that, as supported in Figure
1a, the surface of the untreated GCW is smooth and it may due to the occurrence of a layer of lipid
on its surface. Thus, adhesion between hydrophilic GCW and hydrophobic matrix became poor and
result in deteriorating of tensile properties. GCW with irregular cross section having low aspect
ratio (<2) refer to Figure 1 was also a result of declining strength [12,13]. Aspect ratio (length to
diameter ratio) shows a greater effect on tensile properties than the particle size [1]. A high aspect
 Materials Science Forum Vol. 880 75

ratio was expected as it was an indication of strength properties. It acts to control the fibre
dispersion, fibre-matrix adhesion and optimum performance of the composites [14].
Young modulus is a measure of the stiffness of a solid material at the elastic stage of a tensile
test. As observed in Figure 2b, tensile modulus of neat PE exhibited 1376 MPa. In comparison to
Neat oxo-HDPE, all of the tensile modulus were improved. In comparison of particle size to neat
oxo-HDPE, the tensile modulus of particle size of 65 - 425 µm, 426 - 850 µm, 851 - 1180 µm and
mixed size were increased by 10%, 20%, 22% and 6%, respectively. The incorporation of the fillers
into polymer matrix improved the stiffness of the composites [15]. As the particle size increased,
the tensile modulus increased. Based on the range of the size chosen in this study, GCW of 851 -
1180 µm size revealed the highest tensile modulus as this might due to better dispersion of particles.
Using the smaller particle size of GCW, the particles tend to agglomerate resulting in bigger particle
size and non-homogenous dispersion of particle fibre. Consequently, the tensile modulus declined.
Next, the untreated 65 - 850 µm size of Untreated GCW has been undergone oil extraction,
mercerisation and a combination of oil extraction followed by mercerisation to improve the tensile
properties. The results of treated GCW/oxo-HDPE composites displayed a better result than
untreated GCW. However, the tensile strength was still lower than neat oxo-HDPE. From Figure 2,
mercerisation performed shows the best tensile strength and modulus result, 16.7 MPa and
2769 MPa, followed by oil extracted, 16.2 MPa and 2017 MPa then a combination of oil extracted
and mercerisation, 15.5 MPa and 1519 MPa, respectively. The mercerisation process removes
natural fats, waxes, lignin and hemicellulose from the cellulose fibre surface [16]. The removal of
the surface impurities increased the surface roughness of GCW supported by SEM micrograph
(Figure 1c) thus increases the number of possible chemically reactive sites functional group like
hydroxyl group and allow better fibre wetting. Lignin has been removed as this constituent in the
GCW has been dissolved in the NaOH solution by breaking into smaller segments of sodium salts
[17]. Thus, it provided better mechanical interlocking and the amount of cellulose exposed on the
fibre surface result in better adhesion. Other than that, the oil extraction treatment has removed the
layer of oil on the surface of the GCW and at the same time exposed the cellulose microfibrils
(Supported by SEM results from Figure 1b). The compatibility of the filler and matrix is greatly
enhanced. A combination of oil extraction and NaOH treatments did not show a better results as
GCW became crumple and less cellulose microfibrils exposed that contributed to poor result.

Fig.2: (a) Tensile strength and (b) Tensile modulus using 5.5% volume fraction with different
particle sizes and treatments of GCW/HDPE composites

Conclusions
The research work offers an environmentally friendly alternative to recycle the high volume of
generated GCW. These composites were prepared using 5.5% volume fraction of GCW with
different surface treatments. These treatments were mercerisation, oil extraction and a combination
of oil extraction and mercerisation. Chemical treatments used result in better adhesion between the
filler and matrix. Thus, the composite improved in term of mechanical properties. Incorporation of
GCW into a thermoplastic matrix acts to reduce the production cost as the fillers can be obtained
from waste at a lower price. This particular type of composites can be applied in the application of
packaging, gardening items and advertising panels.
76 4th Asia Conference on Mechanical and Materials Engineering

Acknowledgements
The authors express gratitude to University Malaysia Sarawak for providing the opportunity and
supports to conduct this research and to MOHE in funding the project through FRGS grant
(FRGS/TK04(01)/1081/2013(27)).

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