Improvement in mechanical and thermal properties of polylactic acid biocomposites due to the addition of hybrid sisal fibers and diatomite particles |
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| Authors: | Zhihua Zhu Chaolin Ye Wuchang Fu |
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| Institution: | 1. National Engineering Research Center of Novel Equipment for Polymer Processing, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China;2. The Key Laboratory of Polymer Processing Engineering, South China University of Technology, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, China |
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| Abstract: | Hybrid sisal fibers (HSFs) were made by mixing untreated sisal fibers with alkali-treated sisal fibers (ASFs), and the HSFs were blended with polylactic acid (PLA) matrix. Then the diatomite particles were added into the PLA/HSFs composite to make PLA/HSFs/diatomite composite. The effect of these two fillers on mechanical and thermal properties was investigated. The results showed that the reinforcing effect of HSFs was better than ASFs. Mechanical and thermal properties (especially the impact strength and crystallinity) of PLA/HSFs were higher than that of PLA/ASFs. The addition of diatomite further improved the mechanical and thermal properties of PLA composites. |
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| Keywords: | Diatomite hybrid impact strength sisal fiber thermal properties |
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