Abstract. The present study focuses on the reprocessing behaviour of recycled injection moulded polylactide (PLA) composites. The composites are reinforced with regenerated cellulose fibres (lyocell) of variable fineness and a fibre mass content of 30%. They were reprocessed up to three times. The influence of reprocessing on the fibre length distribution and the resulting composite mechanical properties (tensile and impact strength) was analysed. While the first reprocessing cycle does not affect the mechanical characteristics of the neat PLA matrix, the strength of the composites decreases significantly due to a decreasing fibre aspect ratio. It was shown that fibres having a larger cross-sectional area display a lower aspect ratio than finer fibres, after reprocessing. This phenomenon leads to a larger decrease in tensile strength of composites reinforced with coarser fibres when compared to composites reinforced with finer fibres. A comparison of virgin composites and threefold reprocessed composites with a similar fibre length distribution resulted in a significantly higher tensile strength compared to the virgin sample. This result leads to the conclusion that not only the fibre length is drastically reduced by reprocessing but also that the fibres and the matrix were damaged.
Abstract:To establish injection-moulded, natural fibre-reinforced polymers in the automotive industry, numerical simulations are important. To include the breakage behaviour of natural fibres in simulations, a profound understanding is necessary. In this study, the length and width reduction of flax and sisal fibre bundles were analysed experimentally during compounding and injection moulding. Further an optical analysis of the fibre breakage behaviour was performed via scanning electron microscopy and during fibre tensile testing with an ultra-high-speed camera. The fibre breakage of flax and sisal during injection moulding was modelled using a micromechanical model. The experimental and simulative results consistently show that during injection moulding the fibre length is not reduced further; the fibre length was already significantly reduced during compounding. For the mechanical properties of a fibre-reinforced composite it is important to overachieve the critical fibre length in the injection moulded component. The micromechanical model could be used to predict the necessary fibre length in the granules.
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