Abstract
In the automotive industry, petrochemical plastics are widespread because glass and carbon fiber-reinforced composites consist exclusively of petroleum-based matrix materials. So far, bio-based plastics couldn’t meet the requirement profile due to their high prices, their inappropriate features and the ineligible quality assurance of their synthesis. But the development of new bio-based polyamides opens the opportunity to replace petroleum-based plastics and may initiate the use of bio-based plastic matrices for fiber-reinforced composites for automotive applications.In this study, short fiber-reinforced polyamide 10.10 composites were investigated. Short carbon and glass fibers were used in varying compositions along with different modifiers to optimize the resulting characteristics. Fiber breakage during twin screw extrusion processing was researched and affected by the use of lubricants. The effect of using lubricants was noticed after extrusion. The addition of lubricants caused negative effects on mechanical properties at concentrations higher than 0.5 % wt. Further influences on fiber matrix interactions were investigated by varying the parameters of injection molding and positive effects on tensile properties were recognized. Strengthening effects on resulting composites are discussed in terms of lightweight structure and cost-efficiency.
Highlights
The total production of bio-based plastics was 4.2 million tons in 2016 and is predicted to rise up to 6.1 million tons in 2021 by experts of the field
The processing conditions have been investigated by Thomason et al who established that a higher content of fibers leads to more intensive fiber breakage [4, 5]
Fiber breakage has a high influence on mechanical properties and it is important to investigate the fiber length distribution in obtained composites to estimate the intensity of fiber breakage
Summary
The total production of bio-based plastics was 4.2 million tons in 2016 and is predicted to rise up to 6.1 million tons in 2021 by experts of the field. The reinforcing fibers contribute to a much higher stiffness and tensile strength to the mechanical properties of the composite than the matrix. The longer the chopped fiber in the composite the more load it can bear Production of those short fiberreinforced composites for injection molding is state of the art via twin screw extrusion. The occurrence of increased viscosity and fiber breakage during processing with high fiber contents is still a topic of research. In this context, the transfer of load from matrix to fibers is the critical focus. In cases where fibers haven’t reached the critical fiber length because of breakage, the polymer matrix is unable to transfer more load [6]. The impact on the contribution of fiber length could be identified and analyzed
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