Sugarcane bagasse fibers at high contents in thermoplastic composites: A novel approach using agro‐industrial residue via thermokinetic mixing

Abstract

AbstractAgro‐industrial residue from sugarcane cultivation in Brazil generates more than 200 million tons of bagasse per year, which is rich in plant fibers that can be potentially applied in polymer composites. New processing routes are required to process composites with fiber contents above 50% wt. The objective of this work was to incorporate sugarcane bagasse fibers to polypropylene at high contents (50%–80% wt) in the development of composites via thermokinetic mixture. Composites with 50% and 60% fibers showed a traditional composite morphology, while those with 70% and 80% resembled agglomerated composites. The water absorption varied between 5% and 34%, increasing with fiber content, while the bulk density remained relatively constant, close to 1 g/cm3. The flexural strength and the flexural modulus reached 31 MPa and 2.4 GPa, respectively, tending to decrease with fiber content. In summary, the present work showed the viability of the proposed processing route, with only two starting materials, to produce cheap, relatively lightweight composites with mechanical properties close to and water absorption much lower than wood composites (medium‐density fiberboard and medium‐density particleboard) used in similar applications, such as furniture, construction, and automobile industry.