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Environmental awareness of the global waste problem has driven the development of new green composites made from either renewable or biodegradable materials. Among the variety of available green composites, natural composites based on poly-lactic acid (PLA) have shown noteworthy performance due to their short degradation time after disposal, good strength, and ease of processing by conventional methods. In particular, green composites manufactured with PLA matrix reinforced with Manicaria Saccifera fabric (MF) display mechanical properties that have shown to be very competitive compared with similar materials. In this study, the tensile properties of a green composite of PLA reinforced with MF are optimized by using a Taguchi method approach. The processing parameters, fabric chemical treatment parameters, compression molding parameters, and fiber content are analyzed simultaneously to yield the optimum biocomposite properties. The predicted optimum parameters are experimentally verified. Tensile tests and scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis are used. Significant improvements on both the tensile strength (114.2%), and the elastic modulus (120.6%) of the biocomposite are achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This work describes a truss-core structure made of hemp/epoxy biocomposite based on a topology with auxetic (negative Poisson’s ratio) characteristics. Epoxy-based composites with 25wt.% of hemp yarns have been manufactured and characterized with tensile and flexural tests. Truss-core hexagonal chiral panels with the biocomposite core have been produced using a Resin Transfer Molding technique. The panels have been subjected to standard transverse shear tests, and their properties predicted with a Finite Element nonlinear modeling. The results show that the hexachiral biocomposite truss core exhibits specific shear modulus and strength significantly higher compared to the ones observed in previous demonstrators made of polymeric core. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]