High stiffness performance alpha-grass pulp fiber reinforced thermoplastic starch-based fully biodegradable composites

Abstract

Alpha-grass studied as the reinforcement in a starch-based polymer matrix. Mater-bi®-Y was chosen as a matrix due its Young’s modulus, in line with that of polypropylene. The test specimens were injection molded and tensile tested. The obtained results were compared to glass fiber reinforced polypropylene. The reinforcing fibres increased the Young’s modulus significantly, obtaining values up to 7.2 GPa, comparable to those obtained with reinforced polypropylene. The contribution of the fibres to the final composite Young’s modulus was also studied, and it was found that was in line with other natural fibres contribution to polypropylene-based composites. Finally, it was found that the value of the efficiency factor of the module remained similar to that of natural fiber reinforced polypropylene