Thermal and Mechanical Characterization of Banana Fiber Reinforced Composites for Its Application in Injection Molding
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TECOS Slovenian Tool and Die Development Centre, Kidričeva 25, 3000 Celje, Slovenia
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Ambi-Metalplast d.o.o, Smolenja vas 11D, 8000 Novo Mesto, Slovenia
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Mechanical Engineering Department, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Edificio de Ingenierías, Campus de Tafira Baja, 35017 Las Palmas, Spain
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Materials 2020, 13(16), 3581; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13163581
Received: 23 July 2020
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Revised: 7 August 2020
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Accepted: 10 August 2020
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Published: 13 August 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Natural Fibers and Polymers)
Several natural materials and vegetable waste have relevant mechanical properties, mainly in its fiber format. Particularly, banana fiber (BF) provides a close behavior to the widely spread glass fibers, which places it in an advantageous position for use as a reinforcing material in plastic composites. This work characterizes the behavior of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), high impact polystyrene (HIPS), and high density polyethylene (HDPE) reinforced with short fibers of bananas from the Canary Islands for its application in molding processes. Several thermal analyses (Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), and Melt Flow Index (MFI)) and mechanical tests (tensile, flexural, impact, and Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA)) were carried out in composites with different percentages of banana fiber. The thermal results show that the use of banana fiber is viable as a reinforcement in composites for injection molding processes and the mechanical tests indicate an increase in stiffness and an improvement in maximum flexural stress by increasing the fiber content in composites, so the banana fiber turns out to be a natural alternative for the reinforcement of injected plastic components.
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Keywords:
natural fiber composites; banana fiber; fiber reinforcements; extrusion and injection molding techniques; short fiber thermoplastics; thermoplastics matrix
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MDPI and ACS Style
Kusić, D.; Božič, U.; Monzón, M.; Paz, R.; Bordón, P. Thermal and Mechanical Characterization of Banana Fiber Reinforced Composites for Its Application in Injection Molding. Materials 2020, 13, 3581. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13163581
AMA Style
Kusić D, Božič U, Monzón M, Paz R, Bordón P. Thermal and Mechanical Characterization of Banana Fiber Reinforced Composites for Its Application in Injection Molding. Materials. 2020; 13(16):3581. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13163581
Chicago/Turabian StyleKusić, Dragan, Uroš Božič, Mario Monzón, Rubén Paz, and Pablo Bordón. 2020. "Thermal and Mechanical Characterization of Banana Fiber Reinforced Composites for Its Application in Injection Molding" Materials 13, no. 16: 3581. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13163581
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