Film-stacking method as an alternative agave tequilana fibre/PLA composite fabrication

This paper presents the fabrication of an Agave tequilana Fibre (ATF) bio-composite by film stacking method and an experimental investigation on preliminary mechanical properties; namely tensile, flexural, impact, and water uptake. Randomly oriented bio-composite samples were made from both, untreated and surface treated ATF collected from a tequila distillery waste stream. The ATF were surface treated using NaOH, and Pectate lyase to improve fibre properties and adhesion. The samples were prepared using three fibre loadings, 20, 40 and 60 wt%. Randomly oriented ATF mats were pre-impregnated with poly (lactic acid) (PLA) before bio-composite stacking and press moulding. Untreated fibre samples were processed and kept as a reference. The morphology of the fracture surfaces was analysed through optical and environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM). The quasi-static tensile tests revealed that the modulus of the bio-based composite materials is up to ~10% lower than that of the neat PLA. Flexural strength values observed at 60 wt% of fibre content were within the ranges of 76.10–77.0 MPa for treated samples with a flexural modulus of 3.36–3.76 GPa, whereas impact strength presented a reduction of ~32–35%. Generally, all measured properties presented reduction in strength with the increase of fibre loading.