Creep and heat deflection temperature (HDT) study of Pineapple leaf fibre (PALF) and Montmorillonite (MMT) nanoclay reinforced Poly-lactic acid (PLA) based laminated hybrid biocomposite

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to evaluate the influence of Montmorillonite (MMT) nanoclay reinforcement on creep and heat deflection temperature (HDT) characteristics of pineapple leaf fibre (PALF)/poly-lactic acid (PLA) /MMT hybrid biocomposite. PLA/MMT films of 1 mm thickness were prepared using melt mixing and compounding by varying the MMT inclusion from 0,1,2 and 3 wt%. PLA/MMT films were arranged alternately with basket woven PALF. The film stacking method was used for the fabrication of laminated hybrid biocomposite. Temperature controlled compression moulding method was used for biocomposite fabrication. Impression creep test was used to study the creep behaviour and heat deflection temperature (HDT) as per ASTM D648 of the laminated hybrid biocomposite samples was carried out to evaluate the thermo-mechanical behaviour. Impression depth in millimetre was measured as a function of time and presented as creep plots. Short primary, prolonged secondary creep curves, and absence of tertiary stage of creep were observed. MMT inclusion of 2 wt% exhibited minimum impression depth and highest HDT results as compared to that of the rest of the samples. The SEM images reveals that at 2 wt% MMT nanoclay was evenly distributed and hence improved the fibre matrix-nano particle adhesion