The use of cellulosic fibers wastes to increase the mechanical behaviour of biodegradable composites for automotive interior parts

Abstract

The best way to obtain cellulosic fibers is to use the pulp wastes from the paper plants. The pre-processing of the fibers is a very complex and chemically heavy set of operations. At the end, a small part of the fibers will be rejected and removed from the production system. Actually these rejected fibers are being incinerated at the furnace that dries the raw-wood. This means that after a set of chemical treatments, that ends with a bleach, the fibers will be incinerated driving to a waste of money, once that all the efforts applied to the treatment are not useful, and by other side, the incineration can release some non-healthy emissions. It is possible to use these rejected fibers in composite applications where their mechanical properties can improve the matrix performance. We will present in this paper the influence of incorporation of these rejected fibers into a biodegradable PLA and PHA blended matrix to replace, in some applications, the petrol-based polymers used into the automotive interior trims. The mechanical, and thermal properties will be assessed and compared with the properties of the petrol-polymers normally used in this type of applications.