Abstract
Plastics play a crucial role in modern human life. While plastics have versatile applications, they are mainly serving for packing purpose. Many of plastics made mare used for packaging application of petrochemicals derivatives. Even though, they fulfill most of the criteria’s as good packing materials, they are not biodegradable. This causes serious environmental pollution. As a result, biodegradable plastics have emerged as an alternative to conventional plastics. Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is one of the biodegradable polymers that have potential applications for various purposes because of its availability, non-toxicity, and biodegradability. However, low tensile strength and high water absorption hinder its application. To overcome this drawback, locally extracted natural biodegradable sisal fiber was used as reinforcement. The sisal fiber was extracted from sisal plant found in Ethiopian highland. After the extraction of the fiber, 20% NaOH was used for treatment in order to enhance interfacial strength between the sisal fiber and the matrix. The Composites were made by mixing 0/100, 10/90, and 20/80 weight percent using the solution casting technique. In addition to this, a cross-linker (boric acid) was used ascrosslink with PVA chains. The water intake and degradation of the samples were studied. The result shows water intake of PVA was reduced from 170% for pure PVA to 32% for the synergy of 20% reinforcement and 5.68% w/w of cross-linker concentration. The degradation obtained in 63 days was 73% for 20% reinforcement and 5.68% w/w of cross-linker concentration. The synergetic effect between boric acid cross-linking, natural sisal fiber and PVA may responsible for reduction of water absorption and improved degradation rate.