Polyamides from renewable sources as matrices of short fiber reinforced biocomposites

At present, in production of commercially available biopolyamides, castor oil is used as one of raw materials. In this paper possibilities of processing biocomposites based on biopolyamide (commercially delivered by Chinese company Suzhou Hipro Polymers) filled with 10 or 20 wt. % of glass, carbon or flax fibers were presented. Tensile properties (tensile strength, modulus of elasticity and elongation at break) of the composites in their conditioned state and after water soaking were discussed. As the results showed, a strong effect of reinforcement was obtained for all of the composites. The composites with glass and flax fibers have a great elongation and impact resistance. To evaluate fatigue stress of tested materials, simplified shortened Lehr's method was used. The results of this work can be used in the designing process of structural materials with varying stiffness and ability to dissipate energy depending on the expectations of the recipient.