Reactive compatibilization of harakeke fiber‐reinforced poly(lactic) acid/polybutylene succinate blend

Different blends of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and polybutylene succinate (PBS), and their harakeke fiber‐reinforced composites were studied. Scanning electron microscopy showed that the PLA and PBS are incompatible and poorly miscible. Tensile strength and tensile modulus of the blends were found to reduce as the amount of PBS increased. Reinforcement alone was not able to significantly improve the mechanical performance of the blend, which is lower than that of neat PLA. Therefore, simultaneous reinforcement and reactive compatibilization were performed using harakeke fiber, and dicumyl peroxide as reinforcement and compatibilizer, respectively. This produced about 201% increase in the crystallinity of PLA. Compared with the PLA/PBS blend, the dual effect approach increased the tensile strength and tensile modulus by 31% and 148%, respectively. Likewise, dynamic mechanical analysis showed that the thermomechanical properties of the composite greatly improved.