Abstract
The objective of this study is to fabricate the PLA/α-cellulose composites and to investigate the effect of α-cellulose short fibers on the toughness improvement of PLA. To homogeneously disperse the polar α-cellulose in the non-polar PLA matrix, the as-received α-cellulose was subjected to surface modification using stearic acid to impart the hydrophobic characteristics to the short fibers. The α-cellulose fibers dispersed more homogeneously in PLA through this modification, and consequently, the fiber pull-out and longer micro-crack length could improve the toughness and damping property of the resulting PLA composites. The inclusion of α-cellulose short fibers considerably decreased the spherulite dimension of the PLA/α-cellulose composites to accommodate larger deformation through grain boundary sliding. The PLA/α-cellulose composite improved its toughness by three times that of the neat PLA with low α-cellulose content (∼4 wt.%), and maintained its transparency.
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