Abstract
Poly lactic acid (PLA)—chemically treated fiber of Luffa cylindrica (LC) composites were fabricated by micro-compounding followed by injection molding method. Before reinforcement, LC fibers were exposed to chemical treatment like alkali treatment, bleaching and acid hydrolysis. The chemically treated LC fibers were then modified with Ca salts to explore their uses in bio medical industries. Thermal stability of chemically extracted cellulose fibers of LC and PLA composites reinforced with 2 wt%, 5 wt% and 10 wt% LC fibers were studied by thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA) in the temperature range from 30℃ to 700℃. Better interfacial bonding between fiber and matrix was evidenced by increased thermal stability of composites due to incorporation of fiber. Crystallization and melting behavior of PLA composites were studied in the temperature range from 30℃ to 170℃ at heating rate of 10°/minute. The crystallization temperature and crystallization enthalpy increased up to 2 wt% of LC fiber content and gradually decreased with further increase of fiber content in the composites. Double melting peaks were observed for all composite samples and possible explanations were suggested on the basis of different crystalline structure of PLA and melt crystallization phenomena.
Highlights
As the demand for the reduction of the environmental hazards is at its peak, development of materials based on bio degradable polymers is gaining much attention
The major objective of our study is to investigate the thermal stability of Poly lactic acid (PLA) based composites with the addition of small amount of chemically treated fibers of Luffa cylindrica (LC) (2 wt%, 5 wt% and 10 wt%)
Effect of Fiber Content on Thermal Profile of Composite Samples When chemically treated LC fibers were incorporated in to PLA matrix, considerable changes are expected to be observed in the thermal behavior of the composites
Summary
As the demand for the reduction of the environmental hazards is at its peak, development of materials based on bio degradable polymers is gaining much attention. The normal degradation time for petroleum based polymers like poly styrene and polyethylene are from 500 years to 1000 years while for PLA it is from months to few years with 10 years as upper limit. Due to this biodegradability nature of PLA, its composites find various applications in the field of biomedical industry such as drug delivery systems, suture implants, bone fixation devices etc. The price for production of PLA has been reduced and commercial production of PLA based composites are increasing dramatically in recent years [3] [4]
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