Abstract
In the last decades the studies on thermoplastic composites reinforced with natural fibres have been mostly focused on vegetable lignocellulosic or cellulosic fibres. These materials provide eco-sustainable solutions for a large range of applications and have been actually adopted by multiple industries. The interest on fibres of animal origin is more recent and research on composites reinforced with these fibres predominantly composed of keratin, such as wool, feathers or silk, is increasing in virtue of some advantageous properties that may overcome some of the intrinsic limitations from vegetable fibres. The combined use of vegetable and animal fibres in composites appropriate for melt blending processing is at early stages of research. After chemical treatments, the fibres of animal origin have been mostly applied as binders between vegetable fibres and polymers, not as main constituents of these composites. The use of both types of fibres simultaneously in composites of thermoplastic matrices is the subject of the present study wherein the fibres of animal origin (wool) are different kinds of residues from a textile industry and the fibres of vegetable origin (wood) are residues from carpentry activities. The chemical composition, the macro and microstructure of the fibres is analyzed, as well as that of composites that combine non-biodegradable and biodegradable polymers with diverse ratios of fibres in different conditions (wool as cards, yarns and felt cloths; wood as sawdust). The addition of coupling agents to enhance the compatibility between wool, wood and different polymers is also analysed.
Highlights
In 1950, when plastic was first mass produced, the manufactured amount was around 2 million tonnes
The exception comes from taking advantage of the wools character of dual capacity of interaction with water, transposed to the application of the chemically treated animal fibres to composites reinforced with vegetable fibres, with the function of binder or coupling agent [9,10,47,48,49,50,51]
The present study reports the simultaneous use of wool and wood, both in the form of diverse industrial wastes, to synthesize thermoplastic composites adequate for processing by extrusion, injection molding or other techniques based in melt blending
Summary
In 1950, when plastic was first mass produced, the manufactured amount was around 2 million tonnes. The material properties of the composites may be modulated by changing parameters or conditions as fibre length, pre-treatments, use of coupling agents or other additives. The exception comes from taking advantage of the wools character of dual capacity of interaction with water, transposed to the application of the chemically treated animal fibres to composites reinforced with vegetable fibres, with the function of binder or coupling agent [9,10,47,48,49,50,51].
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