Amirkabir University of Technology Amirkabir Journal of Mechanical Engineering 2008-6032 56 2 2024 04 20 Analysis and Optimization of Mechanical Properties of Biocomposites Reinforced with Kenaf Fibers/Graphene in the Presence of Compatibilizers Analysis and Optimization of Mechanical Properties of Biocomposites Reinforced with Kenaf Fibers/Graphene in the Presence of Compatibilizers 241 272 5468 10.22060/mej.2024.22798.7679 FA Hossein Taghipoor Department of Mechanical Engineering, Velayat University, Iranshahr, Iran 0000-0002-6019-7461 Jaber Mirzaei Department of Mechanical Engineering, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran 0000-0002-5495-2897 Journal Article 2023 11 12 This article examines the mechanical properties of bio-composites reinforced with kenaf fibers and nano-graphene within a polypropylene matrix by adding a compatibilizer. The response surface methodology with the Box-Behnken approach was used to investigate and present a mathematical model for the behavior of the bio-composite considering the parameters of fiber weight percentage, nano-graphene weight percentage, and compatibilizer weight percentage. The behavior of the samples was analyzed under tensile, bending, and impact tests, and the results were justified using FE-SEM. The fracture surface of the samples indicated that the main mechanism for improving the introduced bio-composite behavior is fiber fracture and fiber pull-out. Multi-objective optimization was carried out using two meta-heuristic methods and the desirability function. The optimization aimed to increase the flexural, impact, and tensile strength while simultaneously reducing the weight of the samples, with the weight percentages of the fibers, nanoparticles, and compatibilizer defined as the problem variables. The results showed that the bio-composite sample with the optimal design parameters has three mechanical properties, including tensile strength, impact strength, and flexural strength, equal to 28.5MPa, 92.29J/m, and 50MPa, respectively. Finally, the optimal state showed that the weight of the bio-composite sample could be reduced by up to 32%. This article examines the mechanical properties of bio-composites reinforced with kenaf fibers and nano-graphene within a polypropylene matrix by adding a compatibilizer. The response surface methodology with the Box-Behnken approach was used to investigate and present a mathematical model for the behavior of the bio-composite considering the parameters of fiber weight percentage, nano-graphene weight percentage, and compatibilizer weight percentage. The behavior of the samples was analyzed under tensile, bending, and impact tests, and the results were justified using FE-SEM. The fracture surface of the samples indicated that the main mechanism for improving the introduced bio-composite behavior is fiber fracture and fiber pull-out. Multi-objective optimization was carried out using two meta-heuristic methods and the desirability function. The optimization aimed to increase the flexural, impact, and tensile strength while simultaneously reducing the weight of the samples, with the weight percentages of the fibers, nanoparticles, and compatibilizer defined as the problem variables. The results showed that the bio-composite sample with the optimal design parameters has three mechanical properties, including tensile strength, impact strength, and flexural strength, equal to 28.5MPa, 92.29J/m, and 50MPa, respectively. Finally, the optimal state showed that the weight of the bio-composite sample could be reduced by up to 32%. https://mej.aut.ac.ir/article_5468_92dfa194391a59dc65b88b704599dbd6.pdf