Tensile and water absorption properties of solvent cast biofilms of sugarcane leaves fibre-filled poly(lactic) acid

Abstract

This research covers the preparation of poly(lactic acid) (PLA)/sugarcane leaves fibre (SLF) biofilms via a solvent-casting method. The results showed that the tensile strength and Young’s modulus of PLA/SLF biofilms increased with the increasing of SLF content. Nevertheless, the elongation at break showed an opposite trend as compared to tensile strength and Young’s modulus of biofilms. Moreover, water absorption properties of PLA/SLF biofilms increased with the increasing of SLF content. In contrast, the tensile strength and Young’s modulus of biofilms were enhanced after bleaching treatment with hydrogen peroxide on SLF, but the elongation at break and water absorption properties of bleached biofilms were reduced due to the improvement of filler–matrix adhesion in biofilms. The tensile and water properties were further discussed using B-factor and Fick’s law, respectively. Furthermore, the functional groups of unbleached and bleached SLF were characterized by Fourier transform infrared analysis.