Pultrusion preparation and properties of continuous glass fiber reinforced polylactic acid thermoplastic composites

Continuous glass fiber (CGF) reinforced polylactic acid (PLA) thermoplastic composites (CGF/PLA) were prepared through the pultrusion process. The effects of processing temperature, tension, traction speed and CGF weight content on the tensile strength of CGF/PLA were carefully studied and systematically optimized. The results indicated that the tensile strength and storage modulus of the CGF/PLA were the highest and respectively reached up to 186.4 MPa and 17.5 GPa when the processing temperature was 220?, the tension force was 11 N, the traction speed was 3 r/min and the CGF content was about 40.0 wt.%. In addition, it was found that the tensile strength of CGF/PLA increased with the rise of the processing temperature and CGF content. Those above results demonstrated that this pultrusion fabrication strategy of CGF/PLA could promote a low-cost and high-strength method for the industrial fabrication of CGF/PLA with desired properties, and thus opening possibilities for the rational design and pultrusion preparation of CGF/PLA.