Bio-Based Composites from Non-woven Lyocell, Viscose fiber mat and Plant oil based resin

Abstract: The current growing environmental issues always put us in tune with environmental friendly processes and products. Bio-based composite is a kind of novel innovation that directs a sustainable approach in our everyday applications. Most of the recent works have focused on composites preparation from renewable resources and the ongoing research follows the same trend considering biodegradability, recyclability, lesser footprint on earth, lesser energy consumption in manufacturing process of the final products. In this continuation, this thesis work was conducted to develop composites materials from non-woven regenerated cellulose fibers like Lyocell and viscose as there was not much work done on regenerated cellulose fibers previously. Compression molding process was used to make composites materials from plant oil-based resin [acrylated epoxidized soybean oil (AESO)] and non-woven fiber mats made of Lyocell and viscose. The individual fiber composites and hybrid composites [Lyocell and viscose] were prepared with 40-60% fiber content. The increase in fiber content in composite materials had a positive result in tensile and flexural properties that was shown in this study. Lyocell fiber composites with 60% fiber content had a tensile strength and modulus of about 135 MPa and 17 GPa, respectively. In all cases, the hybrid composites showed improved mechanical properties but lower storage modulus. Dynamic mechanical analysis showed that the Lyocell fiber reinforced composites had the best viscoelastic properties. The Viscose fiber composites had the highest percentage elongation of about 2.6 % and also showed relatively good impact strength, flexural modulus and material damping behavior.