Abstract
Environmentally friendly "Green" composites were fabricated from a natural cellulosic fiber (MAO fiber) and a biodegradable starch-based resin through hot pressing. The effects of fiber length and alkali surface treatment on mechanical properties of composites were investigated. Fiber lengths of 2.5, 5, 10, and 15 mm were used and fiber weight content was adjusted to 56%, to obtain short fiber composites with random orientation. Ultimate tensile strength increased with increasing the fiber length up to 10 mm and remained almost constant for further increases in fiber length. Fracture strain for the composites fabricated with fiber length of 2.5 mm showed the smallest value of approximately 2%, which is less than that of MAO fiber. This might be attributed to the debonding at the fiber/matrix interface.
