Research Article Peanut Husk Filled Polyethylene Composites: Effects of Filler Content and Compatibilizer on Properties Henry C. Obasi Federal University of Technology, PMB 1526, Owerri 460221, Imo State, Nigeria Correspondence should be addressed to Henry C. Obasi; neduobasi35@yahoo.com Received 31 May 2015; Revised 4 August 2015; Accepted 10 August 2015 Academic Editor: Jos´ e R. d’Almeida Copyright © 2015 Henry C. Obasi. his is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Agrowaste biocomposites were obtained using peanut husk iller and LDPE. he efects of agroiller content and compatibilizer on the mechanical and biodegradable properties of the composites have been discussed. Mechanical and biodegradable behaviour of LDPE became noticeably worse when it was blended with agroiller, due to poor compatibility between the two phases. he presence of MAPE in the composites and its compatibility with the agroiller, led to much better dispersion and homogeneity of agroiller in the matrix and consequently to improved properties. Water absorption and thickness swelling indices increased with increasing iller content and were reduced on addition of MAPE. Furthermore, weight loss of composites via enzymatic degradation showed that both composites were biodegradable even at high levels of iller addition. However, composites with MAPE exhibited lower weight loss. 1. Introduction he geometric increase in the prices of raw materials, especially those obtained from oil and natural gas sector, and the attendant obnoxious efects of their use on the environment have triggered the strong desire in the use of raw materials from botanical resources partly or wholly for the production of plastic products. he polymers obtained from this class of raw materials (petrochemicals) are not easily degraded and form major sources of municipal solid wastes. hese polymeric wastes pose a great threat to the environment because of their nondegradability and microbial resistance. he time many synthetic polymers will take to fully decompose is estimated to be around 50 decades and, during the period, natural phenomena may be inluenced by the presence of these materials [1]. In order to solve the problems generated by these plastics wastes, many attempts have been made to obtain an envi- ronmentally friendly material. Over the past few decades, researches are focused on substitution of the petroleum- based plastics with biodegradable materials having similar properties and being inexpensive. Biodegradable plastics could be obtained from synthetic polymers such as polyvinyl alcohol, polycaprolactone, and polylactic acid or from natural resources such as cellulose, starch, and chitin. Recently, the use of waste agricultural biomass from diferent plant sources to prepare biodegradable composites with varying properties has been studied [2–7]. he use of agrowaste illers in making polymer composites is necessitated due to the competitiveness of natural iber with consumable crops for land use. hese agrowastes are abundant, cheap, renewable, and completely biodegradable. Agrowaste illers when used to reinforce the composites ofer reasonable beneits when compared to mineral illers [8, 9]: light weight, being strong and rigid, being environmentally friendly, being economical, being renewable, and being abundant. hese agrowaste com- posites ofer excellent engineering properties and provide a plausible environmental solution to handle municipal waste disposal. However, like other natural plant based resources, agrowaste illers have high moisture absorption tendency, have poor surface adhesion to hydrophobic polymers, are not suitable for high temperature applications, and have susceptibility to fungal and insect attack. Presently, there have been myriads of research works on the combinations of agrowastes such as palm kernel shell [10], cocoa pod husk [2], Hindawi Publishing Corporation Journal of Polymers Volume 2015, Article ID 189289, 9 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/189289