Study On Composite That Sisal Fiber Reinforce Thermoplastic Starch

Thermoplastic starch is the most potential biodegradable plastics，which can be meltprocessing. But it isn’t applied widely without enough mechanical property. There are hugeamount of Sisal fiber in nature, and sisal fiber reinforced composites have been studiedextensively. In this paper, SF/TPS composites are made by melt blending. The mechanicalproperties of SF/TPS are enhanced by different SF pre-processing and scale. The SF is mainlycomposed of cellulose, which has similar chemical structure with starch. Under the meltblending, it is also very likely to interact. The pre-processing can remove the semi-celluloseand other impurities, and improve the opportunity to interact with chemical reagents.This paper focuses on the effect different pre-processing of SF and different scale ofglycerol and modified starch. The pre-processing includes alkali treatment, steam explosionand combination of both. By x-ray/mechanical test/DSC et al, find out the effect andmechanism which different pre-processing of SF, different ingredient of TPS have impact onSF/TPS. Moreover, this paper focuses on the microscopic theory of mechanical change.Result indicates: different pre-process can make different effects on SF/TPS. The tensilestrength of SF/TPS can reach25.87MPa with SF treated by steam explosion, but flexuralstrength and impact strength can be slightly improved. The mechanical property of SF/TPScan improve a lot by alkali treatment. However, comparing with Separate pretreatment, themechanical property of SF/TPS get slightly decreased by combination of alkali and steamexplosion. Glycerol precipitation test indicates SF/TPS can hold more glycerol, which is thereason of tensile strength decline, after SF is treated by combination of both processing. Theflexural strength and tensile strength of SF/TPS are decreased with the increase of aceticstarch and Glycerol, but impact strength can be improved.X-ray shows that great change of crystallization peak has been taken placed, withalkali-treated of SF, which don’t happen on SF/TPS treated by steam explosion. SEM showsthat the fractures always take place by slippage between SF and TPS, so it is the key toimprove the interface binding which can determine the mechanical property. DSC showsdifferent pretreatment can make an influence on Tg. TG, Water absorption and degradationtest shows the application of SF/TPS has some restriction.Result shows: in order to improve the mechanical property, the best approach ofpretreatment of SF: alkali treatment, which have significance for SF/TPS comprehensiveApplications.