The worldwide demand for replacing fossil-based raw materials by biobased alternatives has led to a significant growth of technological developments on bioplastics. Polylactic acid or PLA is considered as one of the most promising biobased polymers and is currently being used the most.
However, there still exist drawbacks that prevent the wider use and commercialisation of biobased materials such as PLA. The 2 most important ones are:
- Lower mechanical performance: although PLA can already replace conventional materials for quite some applications, its limited mechanical strength is still hampering commercial applications.
- Limited durability: for applications with long lifetime, PLA is not optimal yet due to its limited hydrolytic stability.
Tackling of the current drawbacks remains an important challenge for biobased polymers. There is a need to develop biobased, sustainable polymeric materials with high stiffness, high impact and high durability without impairing recyclability.
The BIO4SELF project wants to tackle these drawbacks and aims at fully biobased self-reinforced polymer composites. These are based on two PLA grades, one to form the matrix and a high stiffness one to form the reinforcing fibres. For reaching the unprecedented stiffness, PLA is combined with a bio-LCP (Liquid Crystalline Polymer) to create an extra reinforcement level. Furthermore, the temperature resistance of PLA and its durability is being improved. The latter via adding well-chosen anti-hydrolysis agents. Also the effect of crosslinking is under evaluation. Further, odour reduction combined with inherent self-functionalization via photocatalytic polymers (self-cleaning properties), tailored microcapsules (self-healing) and deformation detection fibres (self-sensing) will be added. The potential of the biobased self-reinforced materials will be proven in advanced prototypes for automotive and home appliances.
BIO4SELF aims at cost-efficient production of sustainable and fully biobased composites with high technical performances. The use of PLA in the novel composite parts will represent a major contribution to the sustainability of the final products, drastically lowering the environmental impact. To reach this goal, the whole value chain is represented within BIO4SELF, as schematically presented in the value chain (see figure), and innovations all along this value chain are necessary. More specifically this is translated into the following key objectives:
- Novel PLA compounds, with various functionalities, for the high melting reinforcement fibre and the low melting matrix
- High and low melting PLA filaments fulfilling the required properties for the composite processing steps and resulting composite performance
- Production of composite intermediates combining the low and high melting PLA materials (hybrid yarns, woven fabrics, UD tapes and reinforced pellets)
- Demonstration of the PLA composite in prototypes of the project’s end users, produced either via compression moulding, injection moulding and/or thermoforming
Parallel to these activities, a detailed sustainability and cost assessment combined with market analyses and the set-up of business plans are being performed, as this knowledge is vital to allow the fast adaptation of the results towards industry.
