Sustainable thermoplastic bio-based materials from sisal fibers

Thermoplastic bio-based materials from lignocellulosic fibers are of great importance in a sustainable society. To enhance their preparation to an industrial scale, a facile strategy is proposed that combines continuous steam explosion (CSE) with periodate oxidation/borohydride reduction to modify sisal fibers. In the CSE pretreatment, the aldehyde content of oxidized products was increased by a maximum of ∼17%, and the yield of oxidized/reduced products was increased by a maximum of 25%. Furthermore, the tensile strength of hot-pressed sheets was increased to 42.2 MPa, representing a 175% improvement compared with sheets without CSE pretreatment, and a decreased glass transition temperature of ∼132 °C. Results indicated that CSE pretreatment was favorable for improving the modification efficiency and uniformity of sisal fibers, simultaneously achieving much better mechanical properties and thermoplasticity. Appropriate oxidation level of sisal fibers also achieved the better performances. The combined strategy was facile and scalable, and might significantly impact the widespread preparation and utilization of thermoplastic bio-based materials.