Abstract
Natural fibre-reinforced poly(lactic acid) (PLA) laminates were prepared by a conventional film stacking method from PLA films and natural fabrics with a cross ply layup of [0/90/0/90/0/90], followed by hot compression. Natural fibre (NF) nano-hydroxyapatite (nHA) filled composites were produced by the same manufacturing technique with matrix films that had varying concentrations of nHA in the PLA. Their flammability, thermal, moisture absorption and mechanical properties were analysed in terms of the amount of nHA. The flame behavior of neat PLA and composites evaluated by the UL-94 test demonstrated that only the composite containing the highest quantity of nHA (i.e., 40 wt% nHA in matrix) was found to achieve an FH-1 rating and exhibited no recorded burn rate, whereas other composites obtained only an FH-3. The thermal degradation temperature and mass residue were also observed, via thermogravimetric analysis, to increase when increasing concentrations of nHA were added to the NF composite. The tensile strength, tensile modulus and flexural modulus of the neat resin were found to increase significantly with the introduction of flax fibre. Conversely, moisture absorption was found to increase and mechanical properties to decrease with both the presence of NF and increasing concentrations of nHA, and subsequent mechanical properties experienced an obvious reduction.
Highlights
Polymeric thermosets such as vinyl ester, unsaturated polyester and epoxy are chosen for most composites due to their resistance to chemicals, hydrophobicity and suitable mechanical performances.thermoplastic matrices have recently gained significant attention in production industries such as construction, automotive and packaging
It should be noted that the mass residue was enhanced by 279%, thermal decomposition temperature was improved slightly, and the mass loss rate was reduced by approximately 14% upon the addition of the nanofillers determined by the initial
The efficiencies were more pronounced in terms of flame retardancy and thermal resistivity at higher concentrations of nHA particles
Summary
Polymeric thermosets such as vinyl ester, unsaturated polyester and epoxy are chosen for most composites due to their resistance to chemicals, hydrophobicity and suitable mechanical performances. Thermoplastic matrices have recently gained significant attention in production industries such as construction, automotive and packaging. Bio-based polymers such as thermoplastic starch, poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) can be substituted for polyethylene, polystyrene or polypropylene. Petroleum based polymers can be replaced with some bio-based counterparts to deal with disposal issues and problems of diminishing fossil fuel stocks. For many applications where mechanical recycling is an issue, biodegradable polymers are of great interest, as they can be made to be biodegradable and compostable [1]. PLA, amongst other bio-based polymers, possesses relatively high crystallinity, melting point and stiffness, which demonstrates a greater
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