EFFECT OF CHEMICAL TREATMENT ON THE PROPERTIES OF SHORT SISAL FIBER-REINFORCED PCL/STARCH COMPOSITES.

V. P. CYRAS; C. VALLO; J. M. KENNY; A. VAZQUEZ.

Mar del Plata. Argentina

Congreso; COMAT 2001; 2001

INTEMA . Fac. Ingeniería

In recent years, thermoplastic materials are being increasingly used for various applications. Because of their increasing use combined with the high demand, the cost of the thermoplastic has increase rapidly over the past decade. This situation made it necessary to use low cost fillers as a means of reducing the cost of the end product. Natural fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites are more economic to produce than the original thermoplastics (1). Cellulose-based natural fiber are stong, light in weight, very cheap, abundant and renewable (2). However, lack of good interfacial adhesion and poor resistance to moisture absorption made the use of natural fiber reinforced composites less attractive. This problem can be overcome by treating these fibers with suitable chemicals (1). Cellulosic fibers are also reported to be generally incompatible with polymers due to the hydrophilic nature of the former; therefore, several treatments have been reported to improve the fiber-matix interfacial bonding (3).   The effect of chemical treatment on the tensile properties of sisal fiber-reinforced PCL/starch composites was investigated.