Silane treatments on cellulose fabric/PLA composites

Abstract

Regenerated cellulose fabric has potential as reinforcement for polylactic acid in fabricating green composites. In combining the constituents, incompatibility is common problem, leading to deteriorated or less than expected properties. Attempting to enhance compatibility between cellulose fabric and polylactic acid, this study applies fabric surface treatments by silane coupling agent. Conventional method using silane solution and a new method using atmospheric glow discharge plasma polymerization were performed. The treated fabric was characterized, in terms of surface morphology and existing molecular bonds. Mechanical properties of the resulted composites were evaluated. The characterization hinted that both silane treatments indeed modified the fabric's surface. The resulted composites having surface treated fabrics exhibited improved mechanical properties compared to those of untreated one. Between the two silane treatments, atmospheric plasma polymerization method resulted composites with higher strength and elongation at break yet lower stiffness. © 2012 by Asian-Australian Association for Composite Materials (AACM).