The present investigation was carried out with the objectives of studying the structural and thermal properties (thermal stability) of bio-composites of glycerol plasticized cassava starch containing fibers of green coconuts through FTIR, XRD, DTA/DTG and DMTA techniques. This added the understanding of processing–property–structure correlations and revealed the following:
•
The thermal molding process for preparing the bio-composites caused slight decomposition of the starch in the TPS matrix and TPS composites as revealed by the presence of carbonyl compounds shown by a small signal at 1715 cm−1 in their FTIR spectra. However, most of the starch remained chemically unmodified keeping the properties of the prepared composites unaffected during the plasticizing process.
•
Increasing additions of coir fibers from 0% to 30 wt.% to the TPS matrix resulted in (i) increased relative crystallinity from 39% to 62%, (ii) enhanced thermal stability, shown by decreasing degradation temperature, and (iii) increasing storage modulus (from 2027 MPa to 3215 MPa), higher glass transition temperature and lower damping as revealed by as revealed by XRD studies, TGA/DTG studies and DMTA studies respectively.
•
Chemical compatibility in the TPS composites promoted by a better interfacial bonding interaction between the matrix and fibers can be attributed to the above mentioned results.