Study of thermal behavior of poly (lactic) acid composites with electron beam irradiated luffa fiber

Abstract

Modification of surface of natural fibers by high energy electron beam irradiation (6 MeV) is a process for enhancing the adhesion between fiber and matrix. Composites reinforced with natural fiber have gained a prominent place in the field of research and innovation due to the advantages such as low cost, light weight and environment friendly factors. We have studied the thermal properties such as thermal degradation and crystallinity behavior of biodegradable composites using biodegradable polymer poly (lactic) acid (PLA) and fiber of luffa cylindrica (LC) fabricated by using injection molding technique. First, reinforcement LC fibers are irradiated with electron beam of 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0 and 10.0 Gy using 6 MeV linear accelerator at room temperature in presence of air. The thermal properties like glass transition temperature [Formula: see text], cold crystallization temperature [Formula: see text], melting peak temperature [Formula: see text] and thermal stability of the composites are studied using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) in the temperature range from 30[Formula: see text]C to 250[Formula: see text]C and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) in temperature range from 20[Formula: see text]C to 700[Formula: see text]C. The variation of these properties in response to the irradiation dose is analyzed in detail. It is observed that with increase in irradiation dose, glass transition temperature and crystallization temperature increase. However, the thermal stability of the composites is found to increase with increase in irradiation dose.