Mechanical properties of kenaf fibers and kenaf/PLA composites

Published Date

April–May 2008, Vol.40(4):446–452, doi:10.1016/j.mechmat.2007.10.006

Title 

Mechanical properties of kenaf fibers and kenaf/PLA composites

• Author 

• Shinji Ochi ^,

• Department of Mechanical Engineering, Miyagi National College of Technology, Natori 981-1239, Japan

Received 16 February 2007. Revised 16 October 2007. Available online 27 October 2007.

Abstract

This paper describes the cultivation of kenaf and application to biodegradable composite materials. The unidirectional biodegradable composite materials were made from kenaf fibers and an emulsion-type PLA resin. Thermal analysis of kenaf fibers revealed that tensile strength of kenaf fibers decreased when kept at 180 °C for 60 min. Therefore, biodegradable composites were fabricated at a molding temperature of 160 °C. The unidirectional fiber-reinforced composites showed tensile and flexural strengths of 223 MPa and 254 MPa, respectively. Moreover, tensile and flexural strength and elastic moduli of the kenaf fiber-reinforced composites increased linearly up to a fiber content of 50%. The biodegradability of kenaf/PLA composites was examined for four weeks using a garbage-processing machine. Experimental results showed that the weight of composites decreased 38% after four weeks of composting.

Keywords

Biodegradable composites

Natural fiber

Kenaf

PLA

Strength

Biodegradability

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