Characterization of Chemical Treated Eichhornia Crassipes Fibers and Its Composites

ABSTRACT

Natural fiber composites are preferred over synthetic fiber composites nowadays because of their various attractive features like biodegradability, easy processing and light-weight. In order to improve the strength of the natural fibers to be used for composite preparation, they are subjected to suitable chemical treatments. In the present work, natural fiber composites made up of untreated and treated Eichhornia crassipes fibers (ECFs) have been tested for their mechanical properties. The raw ECFs have been optimally treated with 5% NaOH solution, and then, the optimally NaoH treated ECFs have been individually treated with benzoyl peroxide solution, potassium permanganate solution and stearic acid solution. The five ECF samples have been characterized for predicting their physical, chemical, crystalline and thermal stability properties. Composite specimens have been prepared with all the five ECF samples under different fiber loading, viz., 5 wt.%, 10 wt.%, 15 wt.%, 20 wt.% and 25 wt.%. From the test results, it has been observed that the stearic acid solution treated ECFs with 20 wt. % fiber exhibits better tensile strength (46.97 MPa), flexural strength (61.863 MPa) and impact strength (86.74 N/m).

摘要

天然纤维复合材料现在比合成纤维复合材料更受欢迎, 因为它们具有生物降解性、易于加工和重量轻等各种吸引人的特点. 为了提高用于复合材料制备的天然纤维的强度, 对其进行适当的化学处理. 在本研究中,对未经处理和处理的凤眼莲纤维(ECF) 制成的天然纤维复合材料的力学性能进行了测试. 用5%的氢氧化钠溶液对原始ECF进行了最佳处理; 然后分别用过氧化苯甲酰溶液、高锰酸钾溶液和硬脂酸溶液处理最佳NaoH处理的ECF. 对五种ECF样品进行了表征, 以预测其物理、化学、结晶和热稳定性. 在不同的纤维负载量(即5 wt.%、10 wt.%、15 wt.%、20 wt.%和25 wt.%)下, 用所有五个ECF样品制备了复合试样. 从试验结果可以看出, 经硬脂酸溶液处理的含20%纤维的ECF具有更好的拉伸强度 (46.97 MPa) 、弯曲强度(61.863 MPa)和冲击强度 (86.74 N/m).

KEYWORDS:

• Chemical treatments
• Eichhornia crassipes
• benzoyl peroxide solution
• potassium permanganate solution
• stearic acid solution

关键词:

• 化学处理
• 凤眼莲
• 过氧化苯甲酰溶液
• 高锰酸钾溶液
• 硬脂酸溶液

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).