Injection-Molded Nylon-12 Composites Using Lemon Grass-Derived Carbon as a Reinforcement: A Sustainable Strategy for Improved Thermal, Mechanical, and Viscoelastic Properties.

The reinforcement of nylon-12 with lemon grass-derived carbon (LGC) as a filler can be a promising sustainable strategy to reduce both biowastes and the negative environmental impact of plastics. In this work, LGC is incorporated as a sustainable filler to nylon-12 polymer matrix in varying filler concentrations, i.e., 0.25, 1, and 1.5 wt %. Highly semicrystalline carbon obtained from the pyrolysis of lemon grass at 850 °C is investigated by several characterizations, such as XRD, TEM, Raman, SEM, surface area, and pore-size distribution analysis to understand its basic properties. The incorporation of LGC improved the thermal, mechanical, and viscoelastic properties of the composites. The tensile strength at an optimized concentration of 0.25 wt % is improved by 13% along with the increase in crystallinity, tensile modulus, complex viscosity, and storage modulus. The tensile modulus increased by ∼36% at the highest filler concentration of 1.5 wt %, with the tensile strength improving by ∼5%. The improved tensile strength and modulus in LGC-incorporated nylon-12 composites by injection molding have the potential to be used in the automotive industry.