Biodegradable Composites Based on Polylactic Acid (PLA) and China Jute Fiber

Abstract

There is an increasing interest in developing fully biodegradable materials for industrial applications. Composite combining biodegradable polymer and natural fiber could be a fully biodegradable material. This work focus on the investigation on China jute fiber reinforced PLA composites. Composites with three different fiber volume fractions were fabricated by film stacking hot press method. Mechanical properties have been investigated and the microstructure of the composites was observed. Fiber surface treatment by silane was applied in order to investigate the effects on the properties of the composites. The moisture absorption rates in a hygrothermal environment were also measured.

Fully Degradable Jute Fiber Reinforced Polylactide Composites Applicable to Car Interior Panel

“…In the previous research [3], the composites with 40% fiber volume fraction showed best mechanical properties. Therefore, the volume fraction of 40% was used in this research.…”

“…(USA) was used in this study. Some important parameters and properties of the as-received PLA film are as follows: thickness: 0.3 mm; tensile strength: 35 MPa; elastic modulus: 3.5 GPa; elongation: 6%; density: 1.25 g/cm 3 .…”

“…Fully biodegradable composites by combining natural fiber and PLA have been attracted much attention of researchers. Hemp fiber, jute fiber, flax fiber kenaf fiber and tamarind fruit fiber were used by some researchers to fabricate PLA based fully biodegradable composites [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Film stacking hot press forming method can be employed to fabricate short jute fiber/PLA composites [2].…”

“…Short fiber reinforced polymer is in-plane homogenous hence it avoids buckling during loading or environmental effect such as moisture absorption. The tensile strength and flexural strength of short jute fiber and PLA composites range from 39-42 MPa and 74-83 MPa respectively in terms of fiber volume fractions from 30-50% [3]. It provides an ideal candidate material for automobile, for example, some interior panels on the car, such as door panel, sun roof panel, cabin floor, parcel shelf and luggage compartment floor.…”

Crystallization Behavior of Vetiver Grass Fiber-Polylactic Acid Composite

“…At the same time, the addition of synthetic fibers such as glass fiber [5], manmade cellulose fibers [6], carbon fiber [7][8] in PLA were also studied. In case of natural fibers such as kenaf [5,9], flax [10], bamboo [11], jute [12][13] were also used as reinforcement materials in PLA composites. In this work, vetiver fiber was used to prepare vetiver fiber-PLA composites.…”