The Influence of Alkaline Treatment of Plant Fibres on Tensile Properties of Single Fibres and Composites

Abstract:

The hypothesis pursued in this work is that by removing hemicellulose and pectin from plant fibres by alkaline treatment, the fibre tensile performance could be improved. Flax fibres were examined as reinforcement. The highest ultimate tensile strength (UTS) resulted for fibre treated with 3% by weight of NaOH solution (up to 12% increase in UTS and 18% increase in Young’s modulus, compared to untreated fibres). A 15% reduction in cross-sectional area of the fibres was observed. Tensile performance of treated (a percentage of fibre volume fraction (V_f %) of 30%) and untreated (V_f % of 34%) fibre reinforced polypropylene composites manufactured by the vacuum forming process, were compared. A decrease of UTS and Young’s modulus of the treated material was observed with an increase in consolidation time. The UTS of the treated material was 3.82% lower than that of the untreated material.

• Periodical: Materials Science Forum (Volume 894)
• Pages: 46-49
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/MSF.894.46
• Online since: March 2017
• Authors: Jedsada Chaishome*, Satip Rattanapaskorn
• Keywords: Alkaline Treatment, Composite, Single Fibres

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