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Jute woven fabrics in as-received and alkali-treated conditions were respectively combined with polylactic acid resin to fabricate completely biodegradable composites by compression molding in one step. Scanning electron microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry and tensile tests were conducted to estimate the surface morphology, thermal, and mechanical properties of jute fabrics and the composites manufactured. The formability of the composites was evaluated by a thermal-stamping experiment. The results demonstrate that alkali treatment removes the surface impurities of fabrics and refine the fiber structures, lifting the thermal property of composites. As for the mechanical properties, the strength of the fabrics and composites declines while the modulus increases after alkali treatment of fabrics. Although some defects occur, the thermal-stamping experiments confirm the possibility of shaping jute/polylactic acid composite into complicated geometries. And the formability of the composites is influenced by many factors including sample sizes, the holding time of temperature, layup sequence, and so on while the number of layer makes no obvious difference to it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chicken feathers waste from poultry industry was incorporated in poly(lactic acid) matrix to obtain an environmental friendly biocomposite taking advantage of the unique properties of chicken feathers, such as low density, biodegradability and good thermal and acoustic properties, and of the biodegradability of the poly(lactic acid). The effect of manufacturing conditions on the final properties of the composite and on the matrix–fiber compatibility was studied. Optimal manufacturing conditions, in order to obtain the best mechanical results, were found at a temperature of 170–180℃ for a processing time of 5 min and a speed of mixing of 50 r/min. Young’s modulus was not very affected by the chicken feather’s content showing a maximal variation of less than 8%, indicating that is possible to include chicken feathers in a composite maintaining its stiffness. However, tensile strength and elongation decreased up to 58 and 12%, respectively, when chicken feather content was 25% because of the restraining effect of the fibers. Moreover, dimensional stability was negatively affected with the inclusion of chicken feathers. Infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy studies show that fiber–matrix interaction exists but it is weak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bamboo fiber was considered a good candidate for the reinforcement of green composites. The applications of bamboo fibers as reinforcements in fabric or structural forms to constitute composites have been widely investigated. This study conducted the process from the bamboo strips to the fibers that were compounded with the polylactide to form the composite pellets for the following injection molding process. Alkali treatment of bamboo fiber at 100℃ for 12 h could properly delignify the bamboo fiber strips, resulting in required bamboo fibers. After compounded with polylactide in a banbury mixer to form composite pellets, the injection molding process was used to make composites with improved mechanical properties, including the tensile strength, tensile modulus, flexural strength, flexural modulus, and impact strength. The reinforced effect of the bamboo fiber on polylactide was quite apparent in our experiments. A simple rule of mixture was used to approximate the tensile strength and modulus of the bamboo fiber/polylactide composite. The fire safety improvement of the biocomposite was also investigated by adding fire retardant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]