Miscanthus stem fragment – Reinforced polypropylene composites: Development of an optimized preparation procedure at small scale and its validation for differentiating genotypes

Jordi Girones (1) , Loan Vo (1) , Stéphanie Arnoult (2) , Maryse Brancourt-Hulmel (3) , Patrick Navard (1)

1 CEMEF - Centre de Mise en Forme des Matériaux
2 GCIE - Unité Expérimentale Grandes Cultures Innovation Environnement - Picardie
3 GAP - Unité de recherche Génétique et amélioration des plantes

The production of ligno-cellulosic biomass-based composites requires the development of new methodologies to evaluate the reinforcement potential of a given biomass, such as miscanthus studied in the work. Miscanthus stems from thirteen genotypes were broken into elongated fragments and mixed with polypropylene composites in an internal mixer. The aim is to find the best protocol able to discriminate miscanthus genotypes for their reinforcement capability. The following process parameters were optimized in order to maximize the reinforcement effect of the stem fragment filler: mixing parameters (mixing time, rotor speed and chamber temperature), temperature, fragment content, size and length distributions and coupling agent. The relationship between the process parameters and the mechanical properties of composites were analyzed to evaluate the influence of genotype on reinforcement performance, showing the robustness of the protocol in effectively discriminating genotypes according to their reinforcing capacity.

Mots clés: Mechanical properties; Particle-reinforced composite; Biocomposite; Natural fibers

Domaines: Matériaux

Jordi Girones, Loan Vo, Stéphanie Arnoult, Maryse Brancourt-Hulmel, Patrick Navard. Miscanthus stem fragment – Reinforced polypropylene composites: Development of an optimized preparation procedure at small scale and its validation for differentiating genotypes. Polymer Testing, 2016, 55, pp.166-172. ⟨10.1016/j.polymertesting.2016.08.023⟩. ⟨hal-01369129⟩