On August 17, 2026

Optimization of the Mechanical and Thermal Properties of Pig HairFibre-Reinforced Polypropylene Composites Using Response SurfaceMethodology

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Polypropylene (PP) dominates automotive plastics but is limited by low stiffness and impact strength, and
there is growing pressure to reinforce it with renewable rather than synthetic fibres. This study develops
and optimizes pig hair fibre (PHF)-reinforced polypropylene composites, using an abundant
slaughterhouse by-product as reinforcement. Composites were produced by compression molding and a
three-factor central composite design (CCD) was used to study fibre length (4.3 to 17.7 mm), fibre weight
fraction (0.6 to 7.4%), and processing temperature (167 to 183 o C). Tensile, flexural, impact, and wear
responses were modelled by response surface methodology (RSM); thermal conductivity, thermal
conductance, and Shore D hardness were measured over the same factor space. The quadratic models
were statistically significant (p < 0.0001) with high coefficients of determination (R-squared = 0.95, 0.97,
and 0.95 for tensile, flexural, and impact strength, and 0.87 for the linear wear model), and non-
significant lack of fit in every case. Fibre weight fraction and its quadratic term dominated the mechanical
responses, while processing temperature governed wear and thermal behaviour. Numerical optimization
gave a global optimum at 10.4 mm fibre length, 3.6% weight fraction, and 175 degrees C, with a
desirability of 0.704. Relative to neat PP, the optimized composite improved flexural strength by 21.6%
(25.4 MPa), impact strength by 14.1% (62.5 kJ/m2), and wear resistance by 48.9% (0.336 g loss versus
0.657 g), while tensile strength was essentially unchanged (15.5 MPa versus 15.2 MPa). Thermal
conductivity rose from 0.015 W/mK for neat PP to 0.058 W/mK at 6% loading, and hardness increased with fibre content and processing temperature. SEM confirmed good fibre dispersion and interfacial
adhesion at the optimum. The results show that pig hair fibre is a viable, low-cost reinforcement for non-
structural automotive components, with fibre weight fraction as the primary lever for mechanical
performance.

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