JOURNAL OF TESTING AND EVALUATION, cilt.51, sa.5, ss.1-12, 2023 (SCI-Expanded)
Natural fillers have been used as reinforcing material for many years in
the research field of biobased polymers. It is widely known for being
low cost, eco-friendly, and easily available. The biobased polymer
composites have strong future prospects in the application for
transportation and packaging industries. In this study, the biobased
composite is fabricated at 40 % hazelnut shell flour (HSF) content with
2.5, 7.5, and 10 % of inorganics-based additives like mica, glass ball,
talc by extrusion, and press molding method. The mechanical and thermal
properties and water absorption of those composites are investigated.
The result reveals that inorganic powder-filled composites shows clearly
higher impact energy than pure polylactic acid (PLA). However, there
was a general decrease in tensile and flexural properties with the
addition of mica and glass ball powders, and an increase in properties
between 10 % and 30 % was determined with the addition of talc powder
(7.5 % and 10 %). The highest flexural strength of the 7.5 % talc-filled
PLA/HSF composites is obtained as 51 MPa and the highest tensile
strength of 22 MPa was observed for both 7.5 % and 10 % talc. The
scanning electron microscopic image reveals the uniformly distributed
organic and inorganic fillers and microstructural deformation of the
fractured composite surfaces.