The interest in biopolymers is growing fast. Especially PLA finds interesting industrial applications, more and more in durable end products like technical textiles and not only in disposables. Previous research has shown that PLA fibres can be made to have very good mechanical properties, including high tenacity and a much higher elongation than neat PLA. The fact that there are multiple PLA grades with a range of melting points opens up the possibility of developing self-reinforced PLA composites, a domain which has previously not been explored.
BIO-SRPC will combine industrial trends and explore the potential to develop SRPCs from renewable PLA polymers. This will be obtained by:
The resulting biocomposites have to overcome the intrinsic negative PLA properties such as brittleness and create an impact strength far exceeding the ones of standard PLA plates. Long-term durability (>10 years) will be guaranteed, by using hydrolytic stabilizers. Their recycling potential allows BIO-SRPCs to be eco-designed in order to create highly eco-friendly products.