Mechanical and acoustical properties of polylactic acid based multilayer-structured foam biocomposites

Abstract

Polylactic acid (PLA) based multilayer-structured foam biocomposites were prepared in a three-step process. In step 1, PLA plastic particles mixed with hollow glass beads (HGB) and other additives were blended, pelletized, and foamed and turned into plies using compression moldings. During step 2, the plies were stacked alternately and glued together with glass-fiber cloth reinforced PLA interlayers. The result is a multilayer-structured ply. In step 3, environmental soundabsorbing cotton was spliced on both sides of the ply to obtain the desired foam biocomposites. Then, foam morphology, and both mechanical and acoustical properties of the plies were investigated using a scanning electron microscope, a universal testing machine and a multianalyzer system. Our experimental results indicate that the compressive strength and acoustical properties of the plies made during the first step perform best when the mass fraction of HGB is 15%. We then compared a ply made in the first step with the multilayer-structured ply made in the second step. We found that the mechanical and sound insulation properties became more uniform after the addition of a PLA layer. We also found that the sound-absorbing cotton improved sound insulation by about 30%. The biocomposites achieved the best mechanical and acoustical properties after careful consideration of several factors.

Experimental and Computational Investigation on Mechanical Properties of Reinforced Additive Manufactured Component

“…Over the past few years, industrial demand of biodegradable materials has suddenly increased due to the biodegradability, renewability of the base materials and less greenhouse gas emissions and recycling 1) . ABS, PLA and PETG have been extensively used in the medical industry, packaging industry, automobile industry, aerospace industry etc due to its biodegradability 2) . However, poor mechanical, thermal properties and higher cost limit to use in large scale in the industry.…”

Sound-absorbing porous materials: a review on polyurethane-based foams

“…The sound absorption performance of polylactic acid (PLA) was studied in different studies, and the data are gathered in Table 1 [67,68]. The effect of thermal annealing on the sound absorption coefficient of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) foam was studied.…”

Improving and predicting the mechanical properties of foamed and stretched composite poly(lactic acid) films

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