Preparation and Characterization of Biocomposite Polylactic Acid/Coconut Fibre

Abstract

In this research, biocomposite was prepared by using coconut fiber as filler and polylactic acid (PLA) as matrix. Coconut fiber undergo three different treatments which are sodium hydroxide, bleaching and maleic anhydride. Biocomposite was produced by varied composition of coconut fiber into 2%, 4% and 6% to be added into PLA. Characterization of coconut fiber was carried out by using infrared spectroscopy analysis (FTIR) analysis in order to study the changes in functional groups and degree of crystallinity of coconut fiber after treatment. Characterization of the biocomposite produced was carried out by using mechanical test to study the mechanical properties of biocomposites. Based on the results from FTIR analysis, certain functional group in original coconut fibre structure disappeared after chemical treatment. XRD analysis also showed that bleached coconut fibre has the highest crystallinity. Overall, the result from tensile test showed that maximum load and the modulus Young of biocomposite increase with increase composition of coconut fiber until an optimum point which is at 2% coconut fiber. While elongation at break decreased with increasing composition of coconut fiber.

Keywords

• Biocomposite,Tensile

References

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