Influence of alkali treatment on the interfacial and physico-mechanical properties of industrial hemp fibre reinforced polylactic acid composites

The focus of this work was to produce short (random and aligned) and long (aligned) industrial hemp fibre reinforced polylactic acid (PLA) composites by compression moulding. Fibres were treated with alkali to improve bonding with PLA. The percentage crystallinity of PLA in composites was found to be higher than that for neat PLA and increased with alkali treatment of fibres which is believed to be due to the nucleating ability of the fibres. Interfacial shear strength (IFSS) results demonstrated that interfacial bonding was also increased by alkali treatment of fibres which also lead to improved composite mechanical properties. The best overall properties were achieved with 30 wt.% long aligned alkali treated fibre/PLA composites produced by film stacking technique leading to a tensile strength of 82.9 MPa, Young’s modulus of 10.9 GPa, flexural strength of 142.5 MPa, flexural modulus of 6.5 GPa, impact strength of 9 kJ/m2, and a fracture toughness of 3 MPa m1/2.