Mechanical and Rheological Properties of PHBV Bioplastic Composites Engineered with Invasive Plant Fibers

Value-Added Use of Invasive Plant-Derived Fibers as PHBV Fillers for Biocomposite Development

“…Meanwhile, HS fiber lost less weight in stage III and more weight in stage IV, indicating it had less cellulose and more lignin than RC fiber. These results are consistent with previous findings, where RC fiber was composed of 28% cellulose,~22% hemicellulose, and 14% lignin, while HS fiber was composed of more lignin (~25%) and similar content (~25%) of hemicellulose [14,39]. The difference in the compositions of the two fibers results in their different mechanical performance, reactions to alkali treatment, and interactions with PHBV matrix, which will be discussed later.…”

“…However, HS fibers required much higher NaOH concentration (10%) and longer treatment time (5 h) than RC fibers for improved tensile strength. This is probably because, as a wood fiber, HS fiber has much more lignin (~25%) than RC fiber (~14%) [14,39]. Lignin is less sensitive to alkali than hemicellulose and therefore requires higher NaOH concentration and longer soak time to be removed from the fiber matrix [41,42,46,47].…”

“…Without suitable handling, this biomass may reproduce through vegetative propagation and further invade ecosystems [11]. Value-added use of the invasive plants for polymer composite fabrication can help manage the ecological problems and encourage harvest instead of expensive control and disposal, ensuring significant environmental and economic benefits [14].…”

“…Our group previously developed a biobased compostable composite from PHBV and invasive plant fibers (untreated) [14,25]. The composite had improved Young's modulus and complex viscosity, but decreased tensile strength and tensile elongation at 10% fiber loading.…”