New Eco-friendly Biocomposite Material for Returnable Packaging Containers

摘要

In recent years, research on biopolymers and biocomposites has enabled creating new materials for applications in various areas of engineering. Biopolymers have potential applications in the packaging industries. Returnable containers are used for packaging of parts in the automotive industry that are transferred back and forth between the business that sells the product and consumer that buys the product. The purpose of this research is to investigate the feasibility of making a returnable packaging container from a biocomposite that is made from biodegradable thermoplastic polyester and industrial hemp fiber. The composite is extruded in a twin-screw extruder, pelletized and then injection molded to make the test bars for property evaluations. The mechanical and thermal properties like tensile, flexural, Izod impact strength and heat distortion temperature of the biocomposites are measured to evaluate the suitability of these new biocomposite materials for returnable containers. The properties of the composites were compared with the properties of the existing returnable container material. The formulation of the composite was changed through addition of fiber in different proportions to obtain the desired properties. Returnable containers require high impact and stacking strength because they are reused and they are stacked one on top of the other while transportation and storage. Results obtained from the tests conducted show that the composite has good impact strength when 15 wt. % hemp is reinforced in biopolyester and as expected the tensile strength and modulus of 30 wt. % fiber reinforced biopolyester were higher than that of 15 wt. % fiber reinforced material. 22.5 wt. % hemp reinforced biodegradable polyester composite showed good balance of stiffness and toughness having comparable mechanical and thermal properties with that of a commercial Returnable Packaging Container material.