Patent ID: 7989524

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a molded article comprising a dried thermoplastic starch-based and fiber-reinforced composition having homogeneously dispersed fibers, wherein the dried thermoplastic starch-based and fiber-reinforced composition having homogeneously dispersed fibers is prepared according to a method comprising: mixing water, fibers, and gelatinized starch under high shear in order to yield a fibrous mixture having a substantially homogeneous fiber distribution; and introducing additional components into the fibrous mixture after the fibers have been homogeneously distributed, wherein the introducing additional components includes: mixing non-gelatinized starch into the fibrous mixture; mixing a non-volatile plasticizer into the fibrous mixture so as to plasticize at least one of the gelatinized starch or non-gelatinized starch; and mixing a water-resistant polymer into the fibrous mixture so that the plasticized starch is capable of behaving in a thermoplastic manner, thereby forming a thermoplastic starch based and fiber reinforced composition having homogeneously dispersed fibers pelletizing the thermoplastic starch-based and fiber-reinforced composition having homogeneously dispersed fibers drying the pelletized thermoplastic starch based and fiber reinforced composition to remove the water, thereby providing the dried thermoplastic starch-based and fiber-reinforced composition having homogeneously dispersed fibers in the form of non-expanded pellets introducing the non-expanded pellets into an injection mold; and injection-molding the dried thermoplastic starch-based and fiber-reinforced composition having homogeneously dispersed fibers into an molded article.