THE INVESTIGATION OF POLYLACTIC ACID BASED NATURAL FIBER REINFORCED BIOCOMPOSITES FOR AUTOMOTIVE APPLICATIONS

Abstract

An automotive application with renewablesources as environmentally sustainable solution has been studied for weightreduction. Hemp as non-woven natural fiber (NNF) and Polylactic acid (PLA)non-woven fibers has been used to form continuous mat by needle-punch method.This biobased mat structure was then hot formed to achieve good mechanicalproperties. The composition of the fiber was 50:50 / NNF:PLA and the density ofthe final sheet was 1300 gr/m2, the final thickness of thebiocomposite after themoforming was 2.2 mm with 2.1 GPa Flexural Modulus and 17MPa Tensile Strength and 2.3% elongation at break. In this study, themechanical performance of this biocomposite structure under water immersion,40ºC and 80ºC was studied. The charpy impact strength was found 21kJ/m2.The major outcome of this study is replacing conventional reinforcementmaterials with renewable sources which offers lower weight and tolerablemechanical strengths.