Effects of weight ratio of novel Calotropis Procera seed fiber on PLA polymer composite

Abstract

The current study presents a new bio-composite of PLA reinforced with Calotropis Procera seed fiber. The effect of Calotropis Procera seed fiber on the mechanical behaviour of polylactic acid (PLA) polymer was investigated. The composite was prepared by varying the percent weight of Calotropis Procera seeds with PLA as the matrix and then the impact, tensile and microstructural properties were evaluated using Charpy impact test, ultimate tensile machine and scanning electron microscope (SEM), respectively. Also, the thermal behaviour of Calotropis Procera seed fiber was investigated using a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). The results showed that the impact strength decreases with the increase in fiber content from 17 kJ/m2 for the pure PLA to 11.198 kJ/m2 at 20%. There was no significant change in the impact strength for more than 20% fiber content. Tensile strength was found to decrease with the increase in fiber content from 54.2 MPa for pure PLA to an average strength of 47 MPa at 30% fiber in the composite. Tensile modulus, however, was found to increase with fiber content from 2.14 GPa for pure PLA to 2.45 GPa at 30% wt. fiber in the composite. The obtained result suggests that the Calotropis Procera seed fiber has a potential to be used as a reinforcement in polymer composites. Furthermore, this fiber could assist in cost reduction of PLA and thus increase the application of PLA.