Assessment of Mechanical and Morphological Properties of New Poly Lactic Acid (PLA) / Wood Fibers / Nanographene Composite

The present study analyzed the effect of nanographene (NG) application at three rates (0.75, 1.5, and 3 %) on the production of PLA85/F15 and PLA70/F30 composites. The incorporation of NG into the PLA/wood fi ber composites significantly improved the tensile and bending properties. The results indicated that composites made from PLA68.5/F30/NG1.5 had the highest tensile and bending properties. Furthermore, it was revealed that the addition of fi bers to PLA decreased the composite impact strength in comparison with pure PLA, whereas the addition of NG improved its impact strength, but not as much as pure PLA. The highest impact strength was observed in the composites containing 15 % fi bers and 1.5 % NG (PLA83.5/F15/NG1.5 composites). The composites made from 30 % wood fiber and 1.5 % (PLA68.5/F30/NG1.5 composites) NG had the best interfacial surface between the wood fiber and the matrix of composites.