THE INVESTIGATION OF POLYLACTIC ACID BASED NATURAL FIBER REINFORCED BIOCOMPOSITES FOR AUTOMOTIVE APPLICATIONS

DergiPark: 626590klujesAn automotive application with renewablesources as environmentally sustainable solution has been studied for weightreduction. Hemp as non-woven natural fiber (NNF) and Polylactic acid (PLA)non-woven fibers has been used to form continuous mat by needle-punch method.This biobased mat structure was then hot formed to achieve good mechanicalproperties. The composition of the fiber was 50:50 / NNF:PLA and the density ofthe final sheet was 1300 gr/m2, the final thickness of thebiocomposite after themoforming was 2.2 mm with 2.1 GPa Flexural Modulus and 17MPa Tensile Strength and 2.3% elongation at break. In this study, themechanical performance of this biocomposite structure under water immersion,40ºC and 80ºC was studied. The charpy impact strength was found 21kJ/m2.The major outcome of this study is replacing conventional reinforcementmaterials with renewable sources which offers lower weight and tolerablemechanical strengths