Sanjeev Singh and A.K. Mohanty. School of Packaging, Michigan State University, 130 Packaging Building, MSU, East Lansing, MI 48824
Hybrid green composites from a biopolymer, wood fiber and talc were successfully fabricated through extrusion followed by injection molding processing. The fabricated green composites were characterized for their mechanical properties. The biodegradable plastic used in this study is a bacterial biopolyester, polyhydroxybutyrate-co-valerate (PHBV). The wood fiber and talc hybrid reinforcements of PHBV showed significant improvement in properties of the virgin bioplastic. The hybrid composite was targeted to design a balance in the properties with their cost effectiveness and environment friendliness. One of the targets of this investigation is to establish the structure-property-processing co-relationship of the hybrid composites. The potential of these developing green composites in automotive parts and rigid packaging will be highlighted and discussed.