An investigation of fatigue, creep, and dynamic mechanical behavior of bio-fiber-reinforced PLA and their hybrid biocomposites

In the present research work, three combinations of composite samples, jute and nettle fibers reinforced with polylactic acid (PLA) composites, and their hybrids (jute/PLA, Nettle/PLA, and jute/nettle/PLA) were fabricated using compression molding process. Present work aimed at the experimental investigation of fatigue, creep, dynamic mechanical behavior (DMA), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) of all fabricated composite specimens. Hybridization of jute and nettle fiber enhanced the fatigue cycles and creep strain rate of the developed jute/nettle/PLA hybrid composite as compared to neat PLA and other composite specimens. Experimental results of DMA focused that it is observed by the damping factor (tan δ); all composite specimens obtained higher value of glass transition temperature as compared to neat PLA. Jute/PLA and nettle/PLA composites achieved the maximum glass transition temperature of 64 °C at a damping factor of 1. Jute/nettle/PLA hybrid composites obtained the uppermost value (4775.9 MPa) of storage modulus which is more than four times of neat PLA at room temperature. Jute/nettle/PLA hybrid composite obtained the highest loss modulus 550.36 MPa. In XRD, jute and nettle fibers showed small peaks at diffraction angles of 17 to 30° which indicated the presence of various constituents such as cellulose, lignin, and pectin present in these natural fibers.