Miscanthus fibres

Since the early 2000s, plant-derived biobased fibrous fillers have been frequently used for the reinforcement of PLA-based materials. A well known and frequently used plant-derived fibrous filler is kenaf. Like the case of pollen as an additive, the wettability between PLLA and kenaf should be improved by the addition of a compatibilizer. Other fibrous materials are cellulose fibrous materials or fibres [383,384], cellulose whiskers [385], recycled cellulose fibre [386], cotton fibre [387], sugar beet pulp [388], flax [389], bamboo fibre [390], kenaf [391-393], papyrus [394], hemp fibre [395], cuphea and lesquerella [396], ramie [397], rice straw fibre [398], red algae fibre [399], miscanthus fibre [400], abaca fibre [401], milkweed [402], wood fibre [403] and recycled newspaper fibre [404], Poly(L-lactic acid) fibre can also be used to reinforce soft plastics such as PCL [405],... 

M. Ragoubi, B. George, S. Molina, D. Bienaime, A. Merlin, J.-M. Hiver, and A. Dahoun, Effect of corona discharge treatment on mechanical and thermal properties of composites based on miscanthus fibres and polylactic acid or polypropylene matrix. Compos. A 43, 675-685 (2012). 

The impact properties of injection-moulded Mater-Bi (R) were increased by 30% when the matrix was reinforced with miscanthus fibres (Johnson et al, 2003). Key factors in determining composite properties were the temperature of the extruder barrel and the extruder screw speed. A summary of plant fibre-thermoplastic starch composite mechanical properties is presented in Table 8.4. 

The biopolymers covered in this book chapter are Starch polymers, polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), polylactides (PLA), lignin-epoxy resins, epoxidised linseed oil and composites reinforced with natural fibres such as flax, hemp, and china reed (miscanthus). The first three materials are biodegradable while this is not the case for the remaining studied materials. 

---