Biopolymer Composites

1 INTRODUCTION

The application of high power microwave technology promises innovative and efficient thermal process in food, textile, automotive and aerospace fields. The advantages of microwave technology compared to conventional heating, such as volumetric and selective heating, make the technology more preferable for material processing. In order to develop energy efficient microwave systems and processes, microwave dielectric properties of processed material such as thermosetting resin have to be investigated. The lack of temperature dependent dielectric properties data of processed material creates barriers for further development. The temperature dependent dielectric properties of polymers and material constituents are rarely found in literatures. Furthermore, the simulation of accurate process also needs the information of temperature dependency of microwave properties.

Polymer composites gain great interest in current research since the composites have broad range of application, such as for packaging, medical, electronic and automotive application. The focus of current research is to find composite materials with certain characteristic that cannot be achieved in single material. The advantages, such as enhanced mechanical strength, lighter weight and higher temperature resistance can be

Biopolymer gains a lot of interest because the material can be decomposed naturally. The wide application of biopolymer, ranging from packaging to medical apparatus, also makes the materials very interesting to be investigated. Biopolymer also offers advantage of low cost in the material resources and production. Processing biopolymer with microwave might save some energy due to some advantages offered by the microwave processing. In order to see the possibility of processing biopolymer with microwave, temperature dependent properties of thermosetting resin with natural fiber has to be