Flax fiber reinforced polylactic acid composites for non-structural engineering applications: Effect of molding temperature and fiber volume fraction on its mechanical properties

Owing to its biodegradability, durability, low cost and potential material to replace existing commercial products in the field of engineering applications, nowadays there is a lot of interest in the field of green composites. It is formed by a mixture of biodegradable polymers and natural fibers and has a potential to replace synthetic polymer based composites. In this research work flax fibers are used as reinforcement and Poly-lactic acid (PLA) as matrix material for the development of Flax/PLA composites. The effects of processing parameters such as fiber volume fraction ranging from 25% to 50% and molding temperature ranging from 160°C to 180°C on mechanical properties of flax/PLA composites were investigated. It is concluded from the results that maximum tensile and flexural strength are recorded at 35% fiber volume fraction of flax/PLA composites developed at 170°C molding temperature. SEM analysis validated the findings obtained from the mechanical characterization.