Cellulosic Pulp Fiber as Reinforcement Materials in Seaweed-Based Film

Composite materials made from renewable resources can minimize the environmental pollution. In this work, biocomposite films were produced using seaweed as matrix and empty fruit bunch (EFB) pulp fibers as reinforcement. Based on the results, the EFB pulp-seaweed composite films exhibited better mechanical properties than the seaweed film. It was also observed that 50% EFB pulp loading gave the highest tensile strength (81.4 MPa) and elongation at break (5.4%). This phenomenon was supported by SEM analysis, in which more fiber breakage than fiber pull-out was observed on the tensile fracture surface of composite film. Additionally, no agglomeration of the pulp fibers was observed. Instead, the pulp fibers were homogenously distributed throughout the film. In contrast, the contact angle of the seaweed-based films started to decrease once the pulp fibers were added. The decrease in the contact angle was attributed to the hydrophilic nature of the pulp fibers. Nevertheless, the contact angle values of all composite films were still comparatively high and thus, this would not affect their application as a packaging film.