Fabrication and Physico-Chemical Properties of High-Performance Pine Needles/Green Polymer Composites

Natural cellulosic pine needles were used in long fiber form as a new, potential reinforcement to fabricate green composites using the compression-molding technique. Mechanical and physico-chemical properties of green composites have been investigated as a function of fiber loading in order to assess their applicability in everyday life. The green composites fabricated showed a universal trend of increase in properties with fiber loading up to 30% and beyond this loading these properties decrease. Fiber/matrix interaction between the polymer and reinforcement has been analyzed from the mechanical and morphological studies, which reveal the impact of good interfacial compatibility.