Characteristics of a silk fibre reinforced biodegradable plastic

Ho, Mei-Po and Lau, Kin-Tak and Wang, Hao and Bhattacharyya, Debes (2011) Characteristics of a silk fibre reinforced biodegradable plastic. Composites Part B: Engineering, 42 (2). pp. 117-122. ISSN 1359-8368

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Abstract

Silk fibre is one kind of well recognized animal fibres for bio-medical engineering and surgical operation applications because of its biocompatible and bio-resorbable properties. Recently, the use of silk fibre as reinforcement for some bio-polymers to enhance the stiffnesses of scaffolds and bone fixators has been a hot research topic. However, their mechanical and biodegradable properties have not yet been fully understood by many researchers, scientists and bio-medical engineers although these properties would govern the usefulness of resultant products. In this paper, a study on the mechanical properties and bio-degradability of silk fibre reinforced Poly (lactic-acid) (PLA) composites is conducted. It has been found that the Young’s modulus and flexural modulus of the composites increased with the use of silk fibre reinforcement while their tensile and flexural strengths decreased. This phenomenon is attributed to the disruption of inter- and intra-molecular bonding on the silk fibre with PLA during the mixing process, and consequent reduction of the silk fibre strength. Moreover, bio-degradability tests showed that the hydrophilic properties of the silk may alter the biodegradation properties of the composites compared to that of a pristine PLA sample.

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Item Type:	Article (Commonwealth Reporting Category C)
Refereed:	Yes
Item Status:	Live Archive
Additional Information:	© 2010 Elsevier Ltd. Permanent restricted access to published version in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher.
Faculty / Department / School:	Historic - Faculty of Engineering and Surveying - Department of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering
Date Deposited:	28 Apr 2011 00:38
Last Modified:	14 Oct 2014 04:48
Uncontrolled Keywords:	mechanical properties; natural fibre composites; animal fibre; bio-medical; biodegradable plastics; degradability; flexural modulus; flexural strength; hydrophilic properties; intra-molecular bonding; mixing process; poly(lactic acid); resorbable; silk fibres; surgical operation; Young's Modulus silk fibre reinforced; biodegradable plastic
Fields of Research :	09 Engineering > 0912 Materials Engineering > 091202 Composite and Hybrid Materials 11 Medical and Health Sciences > 1103 Clinical Sciences > 110323 Surgery 09 Engineering > 0903 Biomedical Engineering > 090301 Biomaterials
Socio-Economic Objective:	E Expanding Knowledge > 97 Expanding Knowledge > 970109 Expanding Knowledge in Engineering
Identification Number or DOI:	10.1016/j.compositesb.2010.10.007
URI:	http://eprints.usq.edu.au/id/eprint/9110

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