Creep behavior of bagasse fiber reinforced polymer composites.

The creep behavior of bagasse-based composites with virgin and recycled polyvinyl chloride (B/PVC) and high density polyethylene (B/HDPE) as well as a commercial wood and HDPE composite decking material was investigated. The instantaneous deformation and creep rate of all composites at the same loading level increased at higher temperatures. At a constant load level, B/PVC composites had better creep resistance than B/HDPE systems at low temperatures. However, B/PVC composites showed greater temperature-dependence. Several creep models (i.e., Burgers model, Findley's power law model, and a simpler two-parameter power law model) were used to fit the measured creep data. Time-temperature superposition (TTS) was attempted for long-term creep prediction. The four-element Burgers model and the two-parameter power law model fitted creep curves of the composites well. The TTS principle more accurately predicted the creep response of the PVC composites compared to the HDPE composites.