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Mechanical properties and biodegradation of biocomposites based on poly (hydroxybutyrate-co-valerate) and alfa fibers

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Abstract

In recent years, most of the scientific research had focused on developing environment-friendly biodegradable materials after being used. There are two ways to do that: the first consists of the use of biodegradable plastics, and the second is the incorporation of biodegradable fibers in polymers. The main objective of this paper is to develop eco-friendly biodegradable biocomposites and to make their characterization. We devoted significant attention to investigate the use of alfa fiber as reinforcement in Poly (hydroxybutyrate-Co-valerate) (PHBV) material. The effects of fiber content and fiber treatment, as well as the biodegradation behavior of elaborated composites, have been investigated. From the main results, we observed some morphological changes that occurred on the fiber surface after chemical treatment. The use of fibers in PHBV increases the modulus but not necessarily improves the tensile strength of resulting composites but remains dependent on the interfacial adhesion. Alkali treatment of alfa fibers leads to improve the tensile strength and the rigidity of PHBV/alfa composites. SEM micrographs highlighted differences in microstructure of untreated and treated composites indicating that fiber-treatment also enhances the quality of the interface between the thermoplastic matrix and alfa fibers. In terms of degradability characteristics, the treated composites were highly biodegradable compared to both neat PHBV and untreated composites when subjected to water absorption in distilled and seawater. Also, elaborated composites undergo significant degradation into seawater, indicating their environmentally friendly character.

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Acknowledgment

I would like to dedicate this paper to my father whose sudden and untimely death provoked his leave. Thanks for always being there for me. You not gone; you remain here beside me. Just in a different form, in my heart forever.

Funding

As a corresponding author of this manuscript and on behalf of all co-authors, I would like to declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this paper. This work received no specific subvention from any funding agency in the public and commercial sectors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire Des Matériaux polymères Avancés, université de Bejaia, Bejaia, Algérie

    Dalila Hammiche & Amar Boukerrou

  2. IRDL, UBS, RE CNRS, 3744, 56100, Lorient, France

    Yves Grohens

  3. Laboratoire de Génie des Matériaux et Environnement (LGME), Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieurs de Sfax (ENIS), Université de Sfax, BP, 1173-3038, Sfax, Tunisie

    Noamen Guermazi

  4. Laboratoire D’électronique de Traitement de Signal Et de modélisation Physique, Université Ibn Zohr, Faculté des sciences, Agadir, Maroc

    Fatima Ezzahra Arrakhiz

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  1. Dalila Hammiche
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  2. Amar Boukerrou
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  3. Yves Grohens
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  5. Fatima Ezzahra Arrakhiz
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Correspondence to Dalila Hammiche.

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Hammiche, D., Boukerrou, A., Grohens, Y. et al. Mechanical properties and biodegradation of biocomposites based on poly (hydroxybutyrate-co-valerate) and alfa fibers. J Polym Res 27, 308 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10965-020-02284-1

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