Green composite plastics

For making CA-based green composites by process II, a two-step extrusion was used to make CA-hemp biocomposite pellets which were then injection molded. The first step was to produce CA plastic granules from CA powder and 30 wt.% TEC plasticizer. [Note CA needs an external plasticizer added to enhance its flow and allow processing below its degradation temperature (230°C), which is near... 

Ashori, A., 2008. Wood—plastic composites as promising green-composites for automotive industries Bio-resource Technology 99, 4661—4667. 

V.L. Finkenstadt, C.K. Liu, PH. Cooke, L.S. Liu, and J.L. Willett, Mechanical property characterization of plasticized sugar beet pulp and poly (lactic acid) green composites using acoustic emission and confocal microscopy. /. Polym. Environm. 16(1), 19-26 (2008). 

W. Liu, M. Misra, R Askeland, L. T. Drzal and A. K. Mohanty, Green composites from soy based plastic and pineapple leaf fiber Fabrication and properties evaluation. Polymer 46, 2710-2721 (2005). 

A composite material is a two-phase or multiphase compact material with its components (phases) separated by interfaces which can be formed naturally or be manmade. One of the composite material phases is the matrix (phase I). It exists in the solid (crystalline or amorphous) state of aggregation. Within the matrix, particles are distributed discretely. This is phase II or disperse phase [23]. Biocomposites are composite materials made from natural fiber and petroleum-derived nonbiodegradable polymers like PP, PE, and epoxies or biopolymers like poly lactic acid (PLA), cellulose esters. Composite materials derived from biopolymer and synthetic fibers such as glass and carbon come under biocomposites. Biocomposites derived from plant-derived fiber (natural/biofi-ber) and crop/bioderived plastics (biopolymer/bioplastic) are likely more ecofriendly, and such biocomposites are sometimes termed green composites [24]. 

Soy protein-based green composites are not only applied as an environmental friendly material in the fields of adhesives (Kumar et al. 2002), plastics (Kumar et al. 2011), and textile fibers (Kobayashi et al. 2014), but also as biodegradable membranes (Mamthi et al. 2014). Furthermore, the nutritional and health benefits of soy protein draw attention to the application in the field of biomedical materials (Silva et al. 2014), such as tissue engineering scaffolds (Chien and Shah 2012),... 

Epoxy-based biocomposites have been a significant topic in the continually growing field of research on green composite design for long-term applications. As a potential viable replacement to traditional glass fiber-reinforced plastics (GFRPs),... 

In addition, these green composites may be easily composted afler their hfe, completing nature s carbon cycle. Biocomposites can supplement and eventually replace petroleum-based composite materials in many appHcations, offering new agricultural, environmental, manufacturing, and consumer benefits. Eco-friendly biocomposites from plant-derived fiber (natural/biofiber) and crop-derived plastics (bioplastic) are novel materials of the twenty-first century and would be of great importance to the materials world, not only as a solution to growing environmental threat but also as a solution to the uncertainty of petroleum supply. 

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