Influence of Waste Fiber Content on the Thermal and Mechanical Properties of Waste Silk/Waste Wool/PBS Hybrid Biocomposites

Abstract

Waste silk/waste wool/PBS hybrid biocomposites with various waste fiber contents from 10 to 40 wt%, against to poly(butylene succinate) (PBS), were processed by extrusion and injection molding technique. The waste fiber consisted of 40% waste silk and 60% waste wool by weight. Neat PBS samples were prepared under the corresponding processing condition for comparison. Not only the thermal properties such as thermal stability, thermal expansion, heat deflection temperature, dynamic mechanical thermal properties of the biocomposites, but also the mechanical properties such as tensile and flexural properties strongly depended on the waste fiber content. The thermal and mechanical properties of the biocomposite were considerably increased due to a reinforcing effect of the waste fiber, which consisted of animal-based natural fibers, silk and wool, and the property improvement was obtained with 30 wt% waste fiber. This study suggests that industrial waste fiber has some potential for applying to a biocomposite material.