Development of Natural Fiber-Reinforced Eco-Friendly Polyester Nanocomposites

The fast developments of “Nano-Technology” and “Green Technology” are changing our life style and also solve the pollution problems provoked by human beings. Biopolymers have attracted much attention during the past two decades due to their eco-friendly characteristic (Green Technology). However, the disadvantages including narrow processing window, low heat resistance, and low modulus have limited their applications. To improve the properties of biopolymers, the development of so-called “Bionanocomposites” is one of the efficient ways. Recently, the usage of hybrid fillers of natural fiber and nanoclay shows great potential in enhancing the properties of biopolymers, as addressed in the literature. Poly(butylene succinate-co-adipate) (PBSA), a copolymer of poly(butylene succinate), possesses biodegradable character and shows properties similar to polyolefins. In this project, the collaborated company (嘉和綠色智財公司) is manufacturing biopolymers for different applications. To extend the variety of products, we prepared the natural (kenaf) fiber-reinforced PBSA nanocomposites through melt-mixing procedure. The as-received kenaf fibers were water-cleaned, alkali treated or further treated with silane coupling before being mixed with PBSA. The influences of fibers’ loading and surface treatment on the phase morphology, thermal and mechanical properties of prepared composites were investigated, and compared with those of neat PBSA. The tensile test showed that a higher loading of fibers led to an even higher Young’s modulus compared with neat PBSA. The alkali-treated fibers exhibited a higher efficiency in enhancing the Young’s modulus of PBSA compared with water-cleaned fibers. The alkali-silane treated fibers provided an even higher Young’s modulus enhancement for PBSA as compared with other treated kenaf fibers. In addition, the effect of adding nano-HNT filler on the physical properties of PBSA was evaluated. The data showed that organo-MMT presented higher efficiency in enhancing the rigidity of PBSA compared with nano-HNT.

Project ID:PB10406-1012
External Project ID:MOST104-2622-E182-002-CC3