Effect of coconut fiber filler on mechanical & physical properties of PBS bioplastic

This research investigated the effects of adding chemically-treated coconut fibers
as fillers on the tensile strength, impact resistance, hardness, and density of polybutylene
succinate (PBS) composites. Coconut fibers with varying contents of 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 pph
were mixed with PBS through a twin-screw extrusion process and molded into test specimens
using a hot compression molding. Properties evaluated in this work included tensile strength,
impact resistance, hardness, density, and fiber alignment in PBS bioplastics. The results
showed that hardness (Shore D) and density for all samples were in the ranges of 66-68 and
1.20-1.31 g/cm3, respectively. Furthermore, incorporating 10-15 pph of coconut fibers to PBS
bioplastic increased the tensile modulus and impact resistance. However, tensile strength
and elongation at break generally decreased with increasing fiber content. The results also
indicated that fiber alignment exhibited negligible impacts on PBS properties. Overall,
the findings suggested that