Alkali Treatment Effect: Mechanical, Thermal, Morphological, and Spectroscopy Studies on Abutilon Indicum Fiber-Reinforced Composites

ABSTRACT

Applicability of natural fiber-reinforced composites in automobile, aerospace like sectors has been increasing as more number of research works is concentrating on natural fibers owing to their eco-friendly nature. Biodegradability of natural fibers is main advantage of them over artificial fibers. Natural fiber-reinforced composite possesses good thermal and mechanical properties besides other requirements. For this reason, investigation of  one such natural fiber-reinforced composites has been the focus of the present study.  In the present work, composites made up of abutilon indicum fiber reinforced with epoxy have been prepared. Mechanical, morphological, thermal, and spectroscopic studies on the test specimens prepared using the above composites were carried out to evaluate their respective strengths. Also, the effect of alkali treatment (NaOH) for the fibers was studied and evaluated. Scanning electron microscope results indicated that the composite made up of alkali-treated fibers possessed better mechanical properties. Using differential thermal analysis–thermogravimetric analysis apparatus thermal behavior of the composites and using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic studies, the presence of function groups like C–O, C–H was determined. Thus, characterization of abutilon indicum fiber-reinforced epoxy composites has been carried and properties are evaluated for their applicability to automotive, aerospace similar industries.

摘要

天然纤维增强复合材料在汽车、航空航天等领域的适用性一直在增加，因为越来越多的研究工作集中在天然纤维上，因为它们具有环保性质.天然纤维的生物降解性是其优于人工纤维的主要优点.天然纤维增强复合材料具有良好的热性能和力学性能.正因为如此，研究一种天然纤维增强复合材料成为当前研究的热点.本文制备了由环氧树脂增强的邻苯二酚铟纤维复合材料.对用上述复合材料制备的试样进行了力学、形态学、热学和光谱研究，以评价其各自的强度.并对碱处理对纤维的影响进行了研究和评价.扫描电镜结果表明，碱处理纤维复合材料具有较好的力学性能.利用DTA-TGA装置测定了复合材料的热行为，并利用FT-IR光谱研究了复合材料中C-O、C-H等官能团的存在.因此，对巴氏铟纤维增强环氧复合材料进行了表征，并对其在汽车、航空航天等类似行业的适用性进行了评价.

KEYWORDS:

• Natural fiber
• mechanical properties
• SEM
• TGA
• FTIR

关键词:

• 天然纤维
• 机械性能