Property Change in Strength of Biodegradable Plastic Reinforced by Cotton due to Biodegradation.

In the recent study, one of the authors proposed a simple injection molding method of the fiber reinforced biodegradable composites (FRBC) using the waste of biodegradable fabrics and fibers which result from the process of manufacturing products of textile fabrics. Property change in strength of FRBC molded by the injection method due to the biodegradation was studied in this paper. The molded specimens were biodegraded in soil at 30°C with high humidity (>90%), and static tension and 3-point bending fatigue tests were carried out for FRBC such as the polybutylene succinate (PBS) reinforced by cotton (PBS/CO) at each biodegradation term. Static and cyclic strengths of PBS/CO were higher in comparison with those of PBS at the initial stage without biodegradation, but were decreased drastically with increasing biodegradation. The increase in biodegradability of PBS/CO may be caused by the lack of adhesion between cotton and matrix interface.