RECYCLED NEWSPAPER AND CHICKEN FEATHERS AS REINFORCEMENT FIBER IN BIO-COMPOSITE MATERIALS

摘要

Nonwoven mats of cellulose and keratin fiber were manufactured from recycled kraft paper, newspaper, and processed chicken feathers using a wetlay process. Hybrid fiber mats were produced by mixing different ratios of the three fiber types together in the wetlay process. Composite materials were manufactured by infiltrating these mats with an acrylated epoxidized soybean oil- (AESO) based resin using vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM). The room temperature cured composite panels contained between 16 and 25% by weight fiber depending on the original mat structure. The fiber mats contained 0 to 50 wt% recycled milled newspaper, 40 to 100 wt% pulp fiber recycled from kraft paper and 0 to 60 wt% cleaned and chopped feathers. These composites are low cost, environmentally friendly, derived from renewable resources, energy efficient, and could be used in many applications such as civil infrastructure, automotive and trucking, temporary roadway matting.