Preparation characterization and properties of passiflora foetida fiber reinforced polycaprolactone based biodegradable green composites

Abstract

The rapid industrial development associated with the consumer expectations continues to elevate the demands on the material resources worldwide, leading to the significant problems relating to the material availability, recyclability, environmental safety, and sustainability. These ecological concerns have caused an improved interest in the research and development of the natural fiber composites. They are replacing the synthetic fiber composites in many applications because of their benefits, for instance less expensive, lightweight and also biodegradable. The combined use of natural fibers and the biodegradable polymers (biopolymers) in composites offers an ecological advantage over the conventional polymer composites since these are completely biodegradable. In recent years, many researchers have focussed their attention on utilizing the typical natural fibers such as flax, sisal, jute, ramie, and hemp as reinforcement with biopolymers, for instance, polylactic acid (PLA), polycaprolactone (PCL), and polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) for the fabrication of the biodegradable green composites. Besides these available natural fibers, some potential new lignocellulosic natural fibers are also extracted from the variety of local plants that constitute an exciting and sustainable alternative to the synthetic fibers. Currently, there is an interest to investigate the possibility employing such newly identified natural fibers as reinforcement with the biopolymers for making of the biodegradable green composites. In this context, a newly identified natural fiber from Passiflora foetida (PF) plant stem has not been explored up to now though it is abundantly widespread in tropical and sub-tropical regions. newline newline newline