Development of Bio-Composites from Milkweed Fibers Using Air-Laid Spike Process for Automobile Dashboard Applications
Lupescu D, Cousin P, Robert M and others. Materials (Basel, Switzerland), January 2025.
Read the paper Free to read · doi:10.3390/ma18030618
What this paper is about
Milkweed floss is hollow, which makes it light and a good insulator. This study blended it with polylactic acid fiber at three to one, pressed the mats into composite panels, and tested density, thermal conductivity and structure.
The target application is car dashboards.
Summarised here from the abstract below. Not the authors’ words.
Abstract
This study focused on examining the reinforcement of milkweed fibers in polylactic acid (PLA) bio-composites used for dashboards in car interiors. Milkweed fiber is a natural fiber with a hollow structure that provides tremendous thermal insulation and noise resistance properties. Firstly, the milkweed fibers were blended with PLA fibers in a weight ratio of 75:25 using an air-laying process. Then, several layers of nonwoven material were compressed in a hydraulic press to obtain bio-composites. Finally, three bio-composites were obtained with different numbers of layers. The density, microstructure, thermal conductivity, sound transmission loss (STL), mechanical properties, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), and contact angles of the bio-composites were evaluated. The microstructure analysis revealed that some milkweed fibers collapsed due to the high-pressure molding process, which does not affect the bio-composite properties. The bio-composite with a higher number of nonwoven layers presented a poor interface between PLA and milkweed fibers, thus making it less homogeneous. This bio-composite showed a decrease of 5% in thermal conductivity values and a 19% increase in STL values. In addition, it exhibited a 160% increase in specific flexural strength and a 335% increase in specific flexural modulus compared to samples with a lower number of nonwoven layers. Therefore, it offers the best mechanical-property-to-density ratio, with values that conform to the specifications required for automotive dashboards.
Abstract reproduced from the published paper, which is licensed CC BY. Copyright remains with the authors.
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title = {Development of Bio-Composites from Milkweed Fibers Using Air-Laid Spike Process for Automobile Dashboard Applications (listing)},
author = {{Milkweed USA}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://milkweedusa.com/research/development-of-bio-composites-from-milkweed-fibers-using-air-2025/},
note = {Accessed DATE}
}