Experimental investigation of impact strength and hardness value of rice straw reinforced polylactide composites

Abstract

The development of sustainable materials, considering the design aspects is one of the real challenges among the researchers. In general. the renewable resources used in several applications, should not harm ecosystems and maintain the environmental sustainability. In this context, local agricultural by-products or wastes are focused on as an alternative material due to their lightweight and can be easily disposed of after their usage. Agro-waste and biomass materials are plentifully available in the world. The fibers obtained from the agricultural by-products are often used as fillers or reinforcement. Presently, biodegradable polymer matrixes are becoming popular and are finding in number of applications in manufacturing components used in automobiles, medical, domestic, and others.Polylactide (PLA) is a compostable and biodegradable thermoplastic polymer that is derived from renewable agro-sources such as potatoes, corn, or sugarcane. When suitable filler materials are reinforced with these polymers, an improvement in the strength can be seen.In the present work, the rice straw reinforced polylactide (PLA) composites are fabricated with the standard procedure, in accordance with ASTM standards. The experimental studies for the three types of polylactide composites are carried out to characterize their Impact and hardness strength. It is found a higher impact strength for 20 wt% un-treated fiber content of PLA composites. The hardness value is better for treated fiber content PLA composites.