Kenaf Fiber-Reinforced Biomass-Plastics Used for Electronic Products

Abstract

The developed high-performance biomass-based plastics consist of polylactic acid (PLA) and fiber of kenaf, which fixates CO2 efficiently. Adding this fiber to PLA greatly increases its heat resistance and modulus and also enhances its crystallization. Eliminating the short particles from the kenaf fiber improves its effect on impact strength. Furthermore, adding a flexibilizer mainly made with biomass to the composite improves its strength. These composites (PLA/kenaf fiber, PLA/kenaf fiber/flexibilizer) show good practical characteristics as a housing material of electronic products, compared to petroleum-based plastics such as glass fiber-reinforced ABS resin