Investigation of new Poly(lactic acid) (PLA)/Poly(butylene succinate-co-adipate) (PBSA) thermoplastic composites reinforced with different amount of twill hemp fabrics

Although the adoption of thermoplastic biobased matrix is growing pushed up by environmental issues, the coupling of a Poly(lactic acid) (PLA)/Poly(butylene succinate-co-adipate) (PBSA) blend with hemp fabrics has never been studied. The aim of the present work is to investigate the performance of novel thermoplastic composites reinforced with different amounts of twill hemp fabrics. The effect of different volume fibre content was analysed by tensile, flexural, impact and HDT tests. Analytical predictive models were also applied to forecast the tensile and flexural properties of the biocomposites, paying attention to role of the fibres in warp and weft direction in determining the final mechanical properties of the composites. To better compare the results obtained with the existing composites reinforced with hemp fabrics, a merit index was also calculated to evaluate the efficiency reached by these new composites in terms of stiffness and lightweight.