Short sisal fibre reinforced bacterial cellulose polylactide nanocomposites using hairy sisal fibres as reinforcement

“Hairy” bacterial cellulose coated sisal fibres were created using a simple slurry dipping process. Neat sisal fibres were coated with BC to create (i) a dense BC coating around the fibres or (ii) “hairy” fibres with BC oriented perpendicular to the fibre surface. These fibres were used to produce hierarchical sisal fibre reinforced BC polylactide (PLLA) nanocomposites. The specific surface area of the BC coated fibres increased when compared to neat sisal. Single fibre tensile tests revealed no significant difference in the tensile modulus and tensile strength of “hairy fibres”. However, when sisal fibres were coated with a dense BC layer, the mechanical fibre properties decreased. The tensile, flexural and visco-elastic properties of the hierarchical PLLA nanocomposites reinforced by both types of BC coated sisal fibres showed significant improvements over neat PLLA.