Lithuania, Kaunas, Textile Institute, SRI Center for Physical Sciences and Technology

Abstract

Eco-friendly textile biocomposites with PLA matrix reinforced with flax and flax/PLA weft knitted fabrics without any additional chemical treatment were prepared in this study. Five different kinds of samples were manufactured and investigated: (i) pure PLA sheet and (ii-v) PLA matrix reinforced with weft knits (ii) single jersey flax knit, (iii) single jersey flax/PLA knit, (iv) double single jersey flax knit, (v) double single jersey flax/PLA knit. Tensile and flexural properties of PLA biocomposites with weft knitted fabrics were higher than pure PLA sheet. The highest properties exhibit PLA biocomposites reinforced with single jersey flax knitted fabric. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) showed that crystallization rate of PLA matrix is enhanced with the presence of reinforced material - flax knit. It is possible to do an assumption that flax fibre can act as nucleating agents during the crystallization process.