Biodegradable polyester composites reinforced with short abaca fiber

Abstract

ABSTRACT:The mechanical properties of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvarelate) (PHBV) composites, reinforced with short abaca fibers prepared by melt mixing and subsequent injection molding, were investigated and compared with PHBV composites reinforced with glass fiber (GF). The influences of fiber length, fiber content, and surface treatment of the natural fiber on the mechanical properties were evaluated. Regarding fiber length, the tensile properties had a maximum at a fiber length of about 5 mm. The flexural properties of the PHBV/abaca composite were improved by the surface treatment of abaca with butyric anhydride and pyridine for 5 h because of the increase of interfacial adhesiveness between the matrix polyester and the surfaceesterified fiber, as is obvious from the SEM micrographs. The flexural and tensile properties of PHBV/treated abaca composite were comparable to those of PHBV/GF composite, except for tensile modulus, compared with the same weight fraction of fiber.

Characterisation and Biodegradation of Poly(Lactic Acid) Blended with Oil Palm Biomass and Fertiliser for Bioplastic Fertiliser Composites

“…This reduction was probably caused by the restricted chain mobility of the PLA molecules or simply because of the weight reduction as a result of fibre addition. No significant effect was observed after fibre addition, and the same observation has been obtained by other researchers (Mishra et al 2002;Shibata et al 2002;Lee et al 2008). They reported that the addition of a small amount of cellulose fibres to the PLA matrix did not lead to a change in Tg.…”

Fique Fiber Tensile Elastic Modulus Dependence with Diameter Using the Weibull Statistical Analysis

“…Investigation on changes in mechanical properties as a function of lignocellulosic fiber diameter has been reported since more than four decades [24][25][26][27][28][29][30] . Earlier international research groups investigated coir 24 , banana 25 , sisal 26 , pineapple 27 , palmyrah and talipot 28 fibers.…”

“…In these earlier works no correlation was proposed for the variation of mechanical properties with fiber diameter. More recently [29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36] it was found for several lignocellulosic fibers that both tensile strength and elastic modulus decrease as the fiber diameter increases. In particular, Biagiotti et al 31 were the first to indicate a mathematical expression using the Griffith model:…”

Research and Development of Fully Green Composites Reinforced with Natural Fibers

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