INTERFACIAL CHARACTERIZATION OF A FUNCTIONALIZED CELLULOSIC FIBER REINFORCED PLA COMPOSITES

摘要

Plant fibers are renewable and also light in weight which make them a good candidate asrnreinforcing elements in bio-based polymer composites. Having hydrophilic nature resulted byrnpresence of hydroxyl groups in the structure of these fibers restricts their application in thernpolymeric matrices because of poor interfacial adhesion, and the low dispersion within the matrix.rnTo resolve these problems this study tried firstly to oxidize the flax fibers with selective oxidation.rnThis improves the adhesion of the subsequent amphiphilic TiO2 thin films is created by Sol-Gelrntechnique. The composites were reinforced by using As-received, non oxidized, and oxidized TiO2rncoated flax fibers. Mechanical properties (i.e. Tensile and impact properties) of the compositesrnand the interfacial strength between PLA and the fibers were characterized quantitatively andrnqualitatively. The results showed better interfacial properties within oxidized flax fiber reinforcedrncomposites comparing to non oxidized ones.