Morphology and properties of polystyrene/agave fiber composites and foams

In this work, agave fibers were blended with polystyrene to produce foamed and unfoamed composites. The effect of fiber size and density reduction on the morphological, thermal, mechanical, and rheological properties, as well as crystallinity and water absorption kinetics of the composites was asses...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of applied polymer science 2013-01, Vol.127 (1), p.599-606
Main Authors: Moscoso, Francisco Javier, Martínez, Liliana, Canche, Gonzalo, Rodrigue, Denis, González-Núñez, Rubén
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Cellular
Composites
Crystallinity
Density
Exact sciences and technology
Fibers
Forms of application and semi-finished materials
Materials science
mechanical properties
morphology
Plastic foam
Polymer industry, paints, wood
Polymers
polystyrene
Polystyrene resins
Reduction
Technology of polymers
Tensile strength
Uptakes
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Summary:In this work, agave fibers were blended with polystyrene to produce foamed and unfoamed composites. The effect of fiber size and density reduction on the morphological, thermal, mechanical, and rheological properties, as well as crystallinity and water absorption kinetics of the composites was assessed. The results show that Young's modulus and tensile strength increased with increasing fiber content, but decreased with density reduction. Increasing fiber content and decreasing the size of the fibers both increased crystallinity of the composites. Finally, water uptake and diffusion coefficient were found to increase with increasing fiber content for all sizes. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013
ISSN:0021-8995
1097-4628
DOI:10.1002/app.37843