This paper investigates the effect of short jute fibers on the hydrolysis of poly (lactic acid) (PLA) in deionized water at 50 and 60 °C. The water absorption, thermal and mechanical properties (tensile and flexural), morphological structure, as well as molecular weight of jute/PLA composites and PLA were evaluated before and after aging. The results showed that the jute/PLA composites had higher water absorption but approximately equal mechanical properties compared with PLA. This indicates that it is a feasible way to reinforce PLA by adding short jute fibers. Both PLA and jute/PLA composites undergo hydrolysis after aging. Further analysis revealed that as the vibration and mobility of PLA molecular chains were hindered by addition of jute fibers, jute/PLA composites had a slower decline in mechanical properties than PLA, and thus showed a slower hydrolysis. Moreover, the addition of jute fibers resulted in mechanical interlocking, which in turn increased the load carrying capability of jute/PLA composites.

本文研究短黄麻纤维在50和60°C的去离子水中对聚乳酸（PLA）水解的影响。在老化之前和之后，评估了黄麻/ PLA复合材料和PLA的吸水率，热和机械性能（拉伸和弯曲），形态结构以及分子量。结果表明，与PLA相比，黄麻/ PLA复合材料具有更高的吸水率，但力学性能几乎相同。这表明通过添加短的黄麻纤维来增强PLA是一种可行的方法。PLA和黄麻/ PLA复合材料在老化后都会发生水解。进一步的分析表明，由于加入黄麻纤维会阻碍PLA分子链的振动和迁移，因此黄麻/ PLA复合材料的机械性能下降速度要比PLA慢，因此显示出较慢的水解。此外，黄麻纤维的添加导致机械互锁，进而提高了黄麻/ PLA复合材料的承载能力。