Development and mechanical characterization of PLA composites reinforced with jute and nettle bio fibers

Awareness of sustainable utilization of materials boosted the consumption of natural resources to develop non-toxic and biodegradable composite materials for different synergistic applications. In the present study, composite materials were developed by the biopolymer (polylactic acid) as a matrix and bio-fibers (jute and nettle) as reinforcement. The goal of the present study is to utilize the natural resources in the field of material science and evaluate the physical properties (density and surface roughness) and mechanical properties (tensile, flexural, and impact strength) of all developed bio composites. Experimental results showed that the incorporation of fiber reinforcement with polylactic acid (PLA) enhanced the results of mechanical properties of all developed composites as compared to neat PLA composite. Hybridization of fiber reinforcement with polylactic acid (PLA) also achieved substantial changes in each property as compared to single-fiber reinforced composite material. Nettle/PLA composite achieved a higher density of 1.378 and minimum surface roughness of 0.918 as compared to another developed composite. Tensile strength and Young's modulus were the highest of hybrid jute/nettle/PLA composites at 2.426 MPa and 69.68 MPa. Hybrid jute/nettle/PLA had the highest flexural strength and flexural modulus of 157.33 MPa and 16219.4 GPa. Impact strength was achieved by jute/PLA composite at 17.6 kg/cm2 as compared to all other developed composites. Thus, it was found that hybridization of jute and nettle fiber provided the better mechanical performance of composite materials.