Effect of processing temperatures on the thermal and mechanical properties of leather waste-ABS composites

The effect of varying processing temperatures (200, 220 and 240 degrees C) on the thermal and mechanical properties of uncoated and epoxy-coated chrome-tanned leather wastes-ABS composites has been studied. The results obtained showed that the mechanical properties of the composites decreased as the processing temperature increased. Epoxy-coated leather wastes fibre-ABS (CLWABS) composite yielded better mechanical properties compared to the uncoated leather wastes-ABS composite (LWABS). These results were obtained at an optimized processing temperature of 200 degrees C. Furthermore, the results were confirmed by the field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) studies. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) studies revealed that the epoxy-coated leather wastes fibres (CLW) showed higher onset and melting temperatures of 131.8 and 179.35 degrees C than the uncoated leather wastes fibres (LW) with glass transition (Tg) and melting (Tm) temperatures of 128.2 and 169.4 degrees C, respectively. When the LW and CLW fibres were mixed with Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), the Tg and Tm of CLWABS composite were found to be 94.9 and 269.8 degrees C, respectively, higher than the LWABS composite with Tg and Tm of 89.1 and 261.6 degrees C, respectively. Thus, this study has demonstrated that utilization of epoxy-coated chrome-tanned leather wastes fibres as fillers in the design of ABS-based composites will help a great deal in addressing the problem of solid waste pollutants in our environment.