Powder bio-composite: Initial development of naturally binding Trembesi-Tapioca blends for floor applications

Abstract

Floor material technology has progressively advanced from conventional bare wood to the recent biocomposite floors. Designing materials having suitable mechanical properties and targeted deformation behavior is the key for the development of biocomposite materials for flooring applications. A series of naturally binding Trembesi-Tapioca blends was developed with the objective to obtain mechanical properties of hardwood and suited to resist impact deformation. Three naturally blends with volume ratio of Trembesi-Tapioca Matrix (Tr-TM) ranging between 40:60 and 60:40 were compared in this study. Their macrostructure, mechanical properties as well as fracture behavior were carefully investigated. Results show that their macrostructure is mainly composed of gum part with the appearance of particulate strongly blended. The flexural modulus and flexural strength of blends was comprised between 137 MPa and 6.06 kN/mm2 for Tr60TM to 142 MPa and 6.27 kN/mm2 for Tr40TM. This average flexural strength of biocomposite was balance in between of softwood and hardwood. All blends show similar deflection value. Among the blends studied in this work, the Tr40TM blend shows the highest impact value.