Extraction of bamboo microfibrils and development of biocomposites based on polyhydroxybutyrate and bamboo microfibrils

This investigation deals with the detailed procedure for the extraction of microfibrils from raw bamboo. The microfibrils obtained from raw bamboo were characterized using scanning electron microscope and the average diameter of the fibrils was found to be 10 μm. These microfibrils were then incorporated into polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) matrix using conventional plastic processing equipments. The impact strength values of the resulting composites indicate that there is an optimum loading of microfibrils in the PHB matrix, beyond which the effect of fibril loading is not significant.