Development of natural dyed cotton biocomposites for environmental friendly decorative materials

Abstract

This research aimed to develop decorative materials from natural dyed cotton/polylactic acid (PLA) biocomposites. Natural dye used in this research was extracted from Sappan wood and 3-Aminopropyl triethoxysilane (APTES) was used as a silane coupling agent. Physical, mechanical, thermal and morphological properties of injection molded natural dyed-cotton/polylactic acid biocomposites of which 3, 5 and 10%wt of biocomposites were investigated. The results showed that Young’s modulus, flexural modulus, impact strength and hardness of natural dyed-cotton/polylactic acid biocomposites increased with increasing cotton fiber content and morphological studies by SEM showed good adhesion between cotton fibers and PLA. Thus, natural dyed cotton/polylactic acid biocomposites can be an alternative choice to be used as environmental friendly decorative building materials.