Preparation and characterization of lignocellulosic material filled eco-composites

摘要

The interest in lignocellulosic material filled eco-composites is growing rapidly due to their’s high performance in terms of mechanical properties, significant processing advantages, excellent chemical resistance, low cost and low density. The focus in this work has been put on the preparation and characterization of lignocelllosic material filled eco-composites. The materials have been kenaf fibers (KF) and rice straw (RS) as reinforcements and polypropylene (PP) and poly(lactic acid) (PLA) as matrices. Rice hulls from rice processing plants and natural lignocellulosic kenaf fibers from the bast of the plant Hibiscus Cannabinus represent renewable sources that could be utilized for composites. Maleic anhydride grafted PP (MAPP) and maleic anhydride grafted PLA (MAPLA) were used as coupling agents (CA) to improve the compatibility and adhesion between fibers and matrix. The composites containing 30 wt % reinforcement were manufactured by compression molding and their mechanical and thermal properties were obtained. It was found that the PP-based composites are less sensitive to processing cycles with respect to PLA-based composites. The experimental results suggest that the compression molding are promising technique for processing of eco-composites. Moreover, the PP-based composites and PLA- based composites are appropriate for processing by compression molding. Both composites are suitable for applications as construction materials.