Preparation and Characterization of Durian Husk Fiber Filled Polylactic Acid Biocomposites

¹ School of Engineering, Faculty of Built Environment, Engineering, Technology and Design, Taylor’s University Lakeside Campus, 47500 Subang Jaya, Malaysia
² Centre for Engineering Programmes, HELP College of Arts and Technology, 55200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
³ Faculty of Engineering, The University of Nottingham, 43500 Semenyih, Malaysia.

^* Corresponding author: SeongChun.Koay@taylors.edu.my

Abstract

Polylactic acid (PLA) is biodegradable thermoplastic that made from renewable raw material, but its high cost limited the application. Thus, addition of natural fiber can be effectively reduced the cost of PLA. This research is utilised natural fiber extracted from durian husk to made PLA biocomposites. This paper is focus on the effect of fiber content on tensile and thermal properties of PLA/durian husk fiber (DHF) biocomposites. The results found that the tensile strength and modulus of this biocomposites increased with increase of fiber content, but the strength still lower compared to neat PLA. Then, the elongation at break of biocomposites was expected decreased at higher fiber content. The PLA/DHF biocomposites with 60 phr fiber content exhibited tensile strength of 11 MPa, but it is too brittle yet for any application. The addition of DHF caused an early thermal degradation on PLA biocomposites. Then, the thermal stability of PLA biocomposites was decreased with more fiber content.