10. Thermo mechanical properties
Fig. 10, illustrates the CLTE and HDT of the neat PHBV in comparison
to the hybrid bio-composite, and reflected the beneficial
improvement in both the properties of the hybrid bio-composite.
CLTE was reduced by 36% and HDT by 9 C. The reduction in CLTE
was more due to the effect of talc than wood fiber, as reported previously [32], the wood fiber loading in PHBV affected the CLTE of
PHBV only a little. Bhardwaj and coworkers [2] reported the reduction
in CLTE of PHBV approximately, in equal proportion with the
addition of talc. The diminishing effect on CLTE in hybrid bio-composite
was due to the rigid and low CLTE filler in the polymeric matrix,
which was more pronounced due to the presence of talc. The
HDT of the hybrid bio-composite was not much affected by the
presence of talc, but more by the wood fiber. The reduction in
HDT was observed, when 20 wt.% of the wood was replaced by
the 20 wt.% of talc. The increase in HDT is a usual phenomenon
of fillers in polymeric matrix due to the increase of stiffness at
higher temperature of the fiber filled polymers.