1. ABOUT THE DATASET -------------------- Title: Data for Understanding Novel Biocomposites Comprising of Short Cellulose Fibres in a Hybrid Cellulose-Silk Fibroin Matrix Creator(s): [James A. King [1], Peter J. Hine [1], Daniel L. Baker [1], Yu Shi [2], Xiaoling Liu [3], Jiawen Lu [3], Saihua Li [3], Xiaoye Cong [3], Michael E. Ries [1],] Organisation(s): [[1] School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds; [2] School of Design, University of Leeds; [3] Faculty of Science and Engineering, The University of Nottingham, Ningbo, 315100, Zheijiang, China]] Rights-holder(s):Unless otherwise stated, Copyright 2025 University of Leeds Publication Year: 2025 Description: Data from Biopolymer blends offer a promising route to tunable, high-performance biomaterials, yet their potential in reinforced composites remains underexplored. This study investigates biocomposites produced by reinforcing a hybrid biopolymer matrix (90:10 cellulose:silk fibroin) with randomly oriented short cotton fibres and varying the reinforcement weight percentage. A pure cellulose matrix was tested for comparison. The composites were characterised using X-ray diffraction (XRD), density analysis, tensile testing, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and acoustic insulation analysis. Optimal hybrid composites with 50 vol% reinforcement exhibited superior performance to pure cellulose, achieving a Young's modulus of 3.3 ± 0.3 GPa, strain at failure of 1.4 ± 0.2%, and maximum tensile strength of 42 + 6 MPa. These enhancements were attributed to the hybrid matrix's reduced viscosity and improved solvation capacity allowing higher fibre loading and stronger interfacial adhesion. In addition, the hybrid matrix's greater xtensibility enabled more efficient stress transfer to the fibres, maximising mechanical performance. Fibre content was identified as the primary driver of material modulus, underscoring the critical role of reinforcement. Flock content was then shown to correlate with improved acoustic insulation performance redto a maximum average acoustic transmission loss of 47 ± 7 dB in hybrid samples compared to 29 + 4 dB in cellulose samples. This work demonstrates the viability of hybrid biopolymer blends for creating low-density, high-performance materials from short-fibre textile waste with sustainable applications in insulative structural engineering. Cite as: King, James A., Hine, Peter J., Baker, Daniel L., Shi, Yu, Liu, Xiaoling, Lu, Jiawen, Li, Saihua, Cong, Xiaoye and Ries, Michael E. (2025) Data for Understanding Novel Biocomposites Comprising of Short Cellulose Fibres in a Hybrid Cellulose-Silk Fibroin Matrix. University of Leeds. [Dataset] https://doi.org/10.5518/1751 Related publication: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesa.2025.109459 Accepted November 2025 Contact: [m.e.ries@leeds.ac.uk] 2. TERMS OF USE --------------- Unless otherwise stated, this dataset is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.] 3. PROJECT AND FUNDING INFORMATION ---------------------------------- Title: [SOFI2 and INTAKE] Dates: [November 2025] Funding organisation: EPSRC, EU Horizon Grant no.: EP/S023631/1 and European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 101007429 INTAKE [James King was supported by the EPSRC CDT in Soft Matter for Formulation and Industrial Innovation, "SOFI2", (EP/S023631/1). This research also received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 101007429 (INTAKE).] 4. CONTENTS ----------- Figure_Data.xlsx