TY  - EJOU
AU  - KUMAR, A. MADHAN 
AU  - JAYAKUMAR, K. 
AU  - SHALINI, M. 

TI  - Enhancing the Performance of Polylactic Acid (PLA) Reinforcing with Sawdust, Rice Husk, and Bagasse Particles
T2  - Journal of Polymer Materials

PY  - 2022
VL  - 39
IS  - 3-4
SN  - 0976-3449

AB  - Polylactic acid (PLA) is the most popular thermoplastic biopolymer providing a stiffness and
strength alternative to fossil-based plastics. It is also the most promising biodegradable polymer
on the market right now, thus gaining a substitute for conservative artificial polymers. Therefore,
the current research focuses on synthesizing and mechanical characterization of particlereinforced PLA composites. The hot compression molding technique was used to fabricate
PLA-based composites with 0, 2.5, 5, and 7.5 weight % of sawdust, rice husk, and bagasse
particle reinforcements to enhance the performance of the PLA. The pellets of PLA matrix were
taken with an average size of 3 mm and particle reinforcements of an average size of 50 m
were used as the raw materials. After processing the PLA composites, microstructural and
mechanical characterization studies were carried out to check the uniform distribution of the
reinforced particles on the PLA matrix and the improvement in their strength, respectively. The
results found hardness varied from 29.7 to 36.1 Shore D, tensile strength from 46.2 to 62.5
MPa, impact strength from 14.5 to 17.4 kJ/m<sup>2</sup>
 and flexural strength from 78.9 to 93 MPa from all
processed composites. In addition, SEM images were taken to perform a microstructural
evaluation of the PMCs.<br/>
Also, from characterization studies, it was found that the PLA with 5 wt.% reinforcements
showed better properties than 2.5 and 7.5% reinforcements. On the other hand, particle clustering was observed on the composites with a reinforcement of 7.5%, and hence it showed lesser
performance. Moreover, PLA with 5% rice husk particle reinforcement showed superior
performances compared with other reinforcements.
KW  - PLA particulate composites
KW  -  Sawdust
KW  -  Rice husk
KW  -  Bagasse reinforcements
KW  -  Compression molding
KW  -  Microstructure analysis
KW  -  Mechanical properties

DO  - 10.32381/JPM.2022.39.3-4.7