Wheat straw (WS) was treated with alkali to obtain wheat straw fibers (WSF) and the WSF were then used as reinforcing fibers of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) composites. At present, a high proportion of WS was burned as waste all over the world, which resulted in environment pollution problem. It was reported that PLA was eco-friendly and had lower melting temperature than polyester. PLA/WSF was also considered to be eco-friendly material. The effects of the concentrations of WSF as reinforcing fibers and silane KH-560 as coupling agent and holding pressure, heating temperature and time in compression molding process on the mechanical properties of composites were investigated. The results demonstrated that PLA/WSF composites with WSF concentration of 60% could be fabricated under the pressure of 10 MPa, heating temperature of 175 oC and time of 5 min. The composites prepared using the above optimized process parameters had tensile strength of 13.57 MPa, tensile modulus of 3746.21 MPa, flexural strength of 39.55 MPa, flexural modulus of 4989.78 MPa, impact resistance of 183.44 J/m and density of 0.568 g/cm3. When adding 3% KH-560, the tensile and flexural properties of the PLA/WSF composites both increased about 35% and the impact resistance increased about 15% than the control composites. Developing light-weight PLA/WSF composites could be a feasible approach for WS utilization.

Preparation and mechanical properties of poly(lactic acid)/wheat straw fibers composites

246th National Meeting (2013)

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