Effect of plasticizer on fracture toughness of polylactic acid reinforced with kenaf fibre and montmorillonite hybrid biocomposites

• Main Authors: Mohd Nasir, Nur Aimi, Anuar, Hazleen
• Other Authors: Jawaid, Mohammad
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Springer 2016
• Subjects: TS1080 Paper manufacture. Woodpulp industry; TS195 Packaging
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/51061/1/51061_Effect_of_Plasticizer_on_Fracture_Toughness.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/51061/; http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-981-10-0950-1_11
• Institution: Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia

Monocomposites and hybrid biocomposites based-polylactic acid (PLA) are developed for specific application. In this study, monocomposites are referred to PLA reinforced with kenaf fibre (KF) and PLA filled with montmorillonite (MMT) organoclay. Hybrid biocomposite is denoted to PLA/KF/MMT. Both monocomposites and hybrid biocomposites are extruded using twin screw extruder and then injection moulded. The amount of kenaf fibre and MMT are fixed at 20 and 3 wt%, respectively. In the case of plasticized composites, amount of 3 wt% polyethylene glycol (PEG) was added. The effect of plasticizer on fracture toughness of monocomposites and hybrid biocomposites was studied. The result showed that the fracture toughness of plasticized PLA/KF/MMT yield 24.2 % higher than non-plasticized hybrid composite. Observation under scanning electron microscope (SEM) revealed that the fibre bridging, fibre pull-out and fibre breakage contributed to high fracture toughness of plasticized hybrid biocomposites. X-ray diffraction (XRD) also evident high percentage of crystallinity for plasticized hybrid biocomposites.