Sustainable thermoplastic bio-based materials from sisal fibers

Thermoplastic bio-based materials from lignocellulosic fibers are of great importance in a sustainable society. To enhance their preparation to an industrial scale, a facile strategy is proposed that combines continuous steam explosion (CSE) with periodate oxidation/borohydride reduction to modify sisal fibers . In the CSE pretreatment , the aldehyde content of oxidized products was increased by a maximum of ∼17%, and the yield of oxidized/reduced products was increased by a maximum of 25%. Furthermore, the tensile strength of hot-pressed sheets was increased to 42.2 MPa, representing a 175% improvement compared with sheets without CSE pretreatment, and a decreased glass transition temperature of ∼132 °C. Results indicated that CSE pretreatment was favorable for improving the modification efficiency and uniformity of sisal fibers, simultaneously achieving much better mechanical properties and thermoplasticity . Appropriate oxidation level of sisal fibers also achieved the better performances. The combined strategy was facile and scalable, and might significantly impact the widespread preparation and utilization of thermoplastic bio-based materials.