Developments towards a more sustainable rotational moulding process

Abstract

Rotational molding is a method to produce hollow articles with relatively low internal stresses, being an economic alternative to other process such as blow or injection molding. However the availability of materials is limited to few plastics due to small market and difficulties in processing all materials suitable to be applied in other processes. An example of this is the use of natural fibers and biodegradable polymers, well known in injected plastic parts. This paper focuses on applying these new materials in rotational moulding for enabling high quality of natural composites and a more sustainable process. Natural fibers, extracted from the banana plant, are mixed with polyethylene under different ratios. Several mechanical tests and characterization of the processed samples with this natural fiber were carried out.