Processing and characterization of jute fiber reinforced hybrid biocomposites based on polylactide/polycaprolactone blends

The main focus of this work is to develop biocomposites with improved stiffness and toughness. For this purpose, hybrid biocomposites composed of surface modified jute fiber and varying weight fractions of polylactide (PLA) and polycaprolactone (PCL) are fabricated by hot pressing of solvent impregnated prepregs. Mechanical, thermal (DSC), viscoelastic properties and biodegradation of the developed biocomposites were evaluated. Surface modification of the jute fiber resulted in improvement of tensile strength and modulus and reduction in impact toughness along with vibration damping capacity. The addition of biodegradable resin PCL to PLA matrix leads to recovery of the impact toughness and damping capacity of the biocomposites, without much sacrifice in stiffness and strength. Hybrid biocomposite with 10 wt% PCL attained an optimum balance between stiffness and toughness. In addition, PCL also accelerated the biodegradation rate of the composites. POLYM. COMPOS., 2012. (c) 2011 Society of Plastics Engineers