Processing of PLA/pineapple fiber based next generation composites

Nowadays, the research fraternity across the globe is putting incredible efforts toward the development of sustainable materials. During this endeavor, the potential of sustainable biocomposites incorporating natural fibers as reinforcement and biopolymers as the matrix has received widespread attention for addressing the challenges associated with synthetic fibers and petroleum-derived polymers. However, the limited information about the processing guidelines for these materials and the lack of scientific evidence on how the processing routes affect the performance of the fabricated composites have limited their usage in several commercial applications. In the current investigation, three manufacturing routes, direct-injection molding (DIM) without compounding; compounding using extrusion followed by injection molding (EIM); and compounding using extrusion followed by compression molding (ECM) have been adopted to develop pineapple fibers (PFs)/poly-lactic acid (PLA) biocomposites. The investigation revealed that the crystallinity, visco-elastic, and mechanical responses of the composites fabricated by EIM significantly dominate the composites fabricated by DIM and ECM. The microstructural analysis confirms the severe attrition of fibers during ECM. The thermal analysis of the fabricated composites established that the important responses; glass transition, crystallization, and melting temperature, are independent of the choice of the manufacturing process.

Automated summary

The study shows that the pineapple fiber/poly-lactic acid biocomposites fabricated by extrusion followed by injection molding have superior performance, but their microstructural integrity is compromised. The key thermal responses are independent of the manufacturing process choice.