Study Of Coir Fiber/Poly (Butylene Succinate) Composites

Compared with the traditional inorganic fibers, the plant fibers have many advantages such as lower density, biodegradability and renewability. Also, the preparation process which is environmental protection, no pollution, lower energy consumption, lower cost and wider source conforms to the concept of sustainable development. Based on the smaller density and the higher elongation at break, the coir fibers are used to produce various kinds of floor supply material s, mattresses, auto pillows and ropes, etc.Poly(butylene succinate)(PBS) is a typical biodegradable plastic. It bears not only good biodegradable properties but also the similar mechanical and physical properties to the general polyethylene materials with a large amount of methylene structures in main chains. It is suitable for blown film, injection molding and other processing technics, and can be used for preparing a variety of completely biodegradable polymer matrix composites.Biodegradable composite material s are made of biodegradable polymer matrix and natural plant fibers as reinforced materials. The recombination of coir fiber and PBS can generate environmentally friendly biodegradable composites.The graft copolymer of maleic anhydride and poly(butylene succinate)(MAH-g-PBS) was prepared by orthogonal experiments, and the best technological conditions and prescription of MAH-g-PBS were also determined. The Effectss of MAH-g-PBS content, alkali treatment(mercerizing) factors, coir fiber content and coupling agent treatment on the properties of coir fiber/PBS composites were studied. The experimental results show that the mechanical strength of coir fiber/PBS composites takes on a decreasing-increasing-decreasing tendency with increasing the concentration of alkali and an increasing-decreasing tendency with increasing the processing time. Also, the variation tendency of the mechanical strength of the composites with increasing the coupling agent content or the coir fiber content is increasing-decreasing.The infrared spectrum shows that MAH is successfully grafted onto the chains of PBS. The curves of melting and crystallization of Differential Scannin g Calorimetry(DSC) show that the addition of the couplin g agent or MAH-g-PBS makes both the crystallization temperature and the crystallinity of the composite s increase. The analysis of Thermo gravimetry(TG) shows that the thermal stability of the composite materials treated by alkali becomes worse than pure PBS. The morphology of the impact section is observed by Scanning Electron Microscope(SEM). It reveals that the interface bonding of untreated compositess is poorer and there is a big gap between two phases. In addition, the section is not neat and more coir fibers are uprooted companying a lot of holes. After alkali treatment or the addition of coupling agent, the properties of interface have been improved, but still there are a lot of coir fibers being drawn, and the performance of interface also needs to be upgraded. After adding the compatibilizer to composites, coir fibers have hardly been drawn, and fiber surface is packaged by PBS so that there is no gap. All show that the interfacial compatibility is very good, i.e., the preparation of MAH-g-PBS compatibilizer is successful.