Preparation and Characterization of Biocomposite Polylactic Acid/Coconut Fibre

Abstract

In this research,biocomposite was prepared by using coconut fiber as filler and polylactic acid (PLA) as matrix.Coconut fiber undergo three different treatments which are sodium hydroxide,bleaching and maleic anhydride. Biocomposite was produced by varied compositionof coconut fiber into 2%, 4% and 6% to be added into PLA. Characterization ofcoconut fiber was carried out by using infrared spectroscopy analysis (FTIR)analysis in order to study the changes in functional groups and degree ofcrystallinity of coconut fiber after treatment. Characterization of thebiocomposite produced was carried out by using mechanical test to study themechanical properties of biocomposites. Based on the results from FTIRanalysis, certain functional group in original coconut fibre structuredisappeared after chemical treatment. XRD analysis also showed that bleachedcoconut fibre has the highest crystallinity. Overall, the result from tensiletest showed that maximum load and the modulus Young of biocomposite increasewith increase composition of coconut fiber until an optimum point which is at2% coconut fiber. While elongation at break decreased with increasingcomposition of coconut fiber.