Production and Characterization of Polylactic acid/Rock wool Biocomposites

Abstract

Rock wool is a man-made fiber produced by melting inorganic stones such as basalt, diabase, dolomite obtained from volcanic rocks, and it is an environment friendly resource and generally used for building insulation. Rock wool has good thermal resistance and insulation properties. In this study, PLA/Rock wool biocomposites with 20-30-40% rock wool support were produced with twin-screw extruder and then press molded. Tensile and flexural tests were applied to reveal mechanical properties of composites. FT-IR spectroscopy was used for investigation of chemical changes. TGA /DTG analysis were carried out to determine thermogravimetric properties of biocomposites, where thermal conductivity was measured to investigate heat transfer characteristics. The results showed that flexural strength of composites decreased 5-40% with increasing ratio of rock wool (20-40%), while tensile strength decreased 40-60% with increasing amount of rock wool (20-40%). Besides that, rock wool accelerated thermal degradation of PLA, but the composites have 25% better heat insulation property than neat PLA.