Sustainable polymers and sisal fibers based green composites: A detailed characterization and analysis
Karri Santosh Kumar, Sandeep Gairola, Inderdeep Singh
Abstract
In the global pursuit of using sustainable constituents for developing composite materials, the current investigation \nhas paid particular attention to the most promising biopolymers, such as poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and bio-based poly(butylene \nsuccinate) (bio PBS). The research endeavor emphasizes a comparative assessment of short sisal fiber (SF) reinforced (10, \n20, and 30 wt%) PLA and bio PBS biocomposites. The analysis and discussion have been reported for the thermal, mechanical, crystallinity, and dynamic mechanical behavior of developed composite materials. Based on mechanical properties, the \noptimal fiber loading for SF/PLA and SF/bio PBS biocomposites was 20 and 30 wt%, respectively. The developed composites \nhave shown a considerable improvement in crystallinity of 17.88 and 41.13% at 20 and 30 wt% of fiber loading in SF/PLA \nand SF/bio PBS, respectively. The maximum storage modulus values of 14.23 GPa (20SF/PLA) and 11.74 GPa (30SF/bio PBS) \nwere observed. The loss modulus of the SF/PLA and SF/bio PBS composites was around 74 and 89% higher than the loss \nmodulus of the PLA and the bio PBS matrix, respectively. Overall, composites fabricated with bio PBS (SF/bio PBS) have \nshown better crystallinity, thermal stability, and ease of processing than SF/PLA composites.