Biocomposites Based on Biodegradable Polymers

VERA ALVAREZ; ANALÍA VÁZQUEZ

Buenos Aires - Argentina

Congreso; International Conference on Science and Technology of Composite Materials, COMAT 2005; 2005

In this work the mechanical properties and water sorption in a composite material obtained from cellulose derivatives / starch blends matrix and sisal short fibres was studied . It has been quantitatively demonstrated the reinforcement effect of sisal fiber content on the creep performance and flexural modulus of cellulose acetate/starch composites. In spite that the sisal fiber absorb less content of moisture than the matrix, the equilibrium moisture content depend more in the RH than in the content of fiber in the studied range.  The interphase may be influence the equilibrium content, because when the fiber content increases also increases the interphase or voids in the composites.  The diffusion coefficients are similar for the different fiber contents. In all cases, the mechanical properties were worse as the humidity of the environment increases.  When the fiber content increased the loss of flexural modulus slightly increased, but the effect of the relative humidity showed more changes than fiber content.