Sustainable PLA- and bio-epoxy-based bio-composites reinforced with sea urchin residues: from waste to worth

Kacem, MA, Bibb, R ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3975-389X, Scarpa, F and Bodaghi, M ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0707-944X, 2025. Sustainable PLA- and bio-epoxy-based bio-composites reinforced with sea urchin residues: from waste to worth. Results in Engineering, 28: 108137. ISSN 2590-1230

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Abstract

Transforming marine waste into functional materials offers a sustainable route for next-generation bio-composites. This study investigates the use of sea urchin residues, post-consumer shells and spines as novel fillers for polylactic acid (PLA) and bio-epoxy matrices. Micro- (powder) and macro- (spine) reinforcements were incorporated at 3, 5, and 8 wt.% and systematically evaluated. Chemical and structural analyses (FTIR, XRD, SEM) confirmed the calcitic composition and favorable interfacial interactions in PLA-based systems. Among all bio-composite formulations, the PLA composite with 5 wt.% powder (SU5) exhibited the highest tensile strength (44.89 MPa) and flexural strength (52.4 MPa), along with a 50% increase in impact resistance. In the bio-epoxy system, the bio-composite with 3 wt.% spines achieved the best tensile (23.70 MPa) and flexural (49.62 MPa) strength, despite moderate matrix-filler bonding. Although the unfilled PLA and bio-epoxy matrices displayed higher mechanical properties overall, these formulations represent the most performant bio-composites developed in this study. These findings demonstrate the potential of sea urchin waste as an effective bio-filler for developing sustainable composites, with promising applications in 3D printing, packaging, and biomedical materials.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Results in Engineering
Creators:	Kacem, M.A., Bibb, R., Scarpa, F. and Bodaghi, M.
Publisher:	Elsevier
Date:	December 2025
Volume:	28
ISSN:	2590-1230
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1016/j.rineng.2025.108137 DOI 2530226 Other
Rights:	Copyright: © 2025 the authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Divisions:	Schools > Nottingham School of Art & Design Schools > School of Science and Technology
Record created by:	Jonathan Gallacher
Date Added:	18 Nov 2025 09:38
Last Modified:	18 Nov 2025 09:38
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/54753

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