The Effect of Alkali Treatment on Physical, Mechanical and Thermal Properties of Kenaf Fiber and Polymer Epoxy Composites

Abstract

The use of kenaf fiber as a reinforcement material for polymer composites is gaining popularity, especially in the production of automotive components. The main objective of this current work is to relate the effect of alkali treatment on the single fiber itself and the composite material simultaneously. The effect of temperature condition during mechanical testing is also investigated. Composite materials with discontinuous natural kenaf fibers and epoxy resin were fabricated using a compression moulding process. The epoxy composites were reinforced with 50 wt% untreated and treated kenaf fibers. The kenaf fiber was treated with NaOH solution (6% by weight) for 24 h at room temperature. Kenaf fiber treated with NaOH treatment had a clean surface and no impurities. For the first time we can see that alkali treatment had a damaging effect on the mechanical properties of kenaf fibers itself and the treated kenaf/epoxy composites. The composite reinforced with untreated kenaf fiber and treated kenaf fiber showed increased tensile strength (72.85% and 12.97%, respectively) compared to the neat epoxy. Reinforcement of the composite with treated kenaf fiber decreased the tensile strength due to the fiber pull out and the formation of voids which weakens the adhesion between the fibers and matrix. The temperature conditions also play an important role in composites with a significant impact on the deterioration of composite materials. Treated kenaf fiber has thermal stability and is not sensitive to temperature and as a result reinforcement with treated kenaf gives a lower loss value of 76%.

Evaluation of Novel Compatibility Strategies for Improving the Performance of Recycled Low-Density Polyethylene Based Biocomposites

“…This stiffness is higher in treated filler owing to the treatment due to the removal of non-cellulosic content, which tends to make the filler texture more brittle. This is in agreement with the findings presented by Ismail et al [52]. The effect of compatibilisers as reported in Cases 3 and 4 show that the value of Young's modulus improves due to better filler-polymer compatibility and loading transfer at the interphases.…”

Thermal Stability and Dynamic Mechanical Analysis of Benzoylation Treated Sugar Palm/Kenaf Fiber Reinforced Polypropylene Hybrid Composites

“…These results were in good agreement with the above discussion, where the effect of the benzoyl group on the surface of KF and SPF after benzoylation treatment increased the composites’ thermal endurance compared with the untreated fibers. In addition, as we have proved in the research, the existence of a T g peak shows that the hybrid composite SPF/KF/PP in all composition is amorphous [ 47 ].…”

Evaluation of mechanical, thermal and morphological properties of corn husk modified pumice powder reinforced polyester composites

“…Further, this enhancement may also be due to the improved SBA surface and matrix interaction as a result of the coarseness of the SBA surface. [ 53–55 ]…”

“…Further, this enhancement may also be due to the improved SBA surface and matrix interaction as a result of the coarseness of the SBA surface. [53][54][55] Figure 3 also shows that the tensile strength gradually decreased with increased CHF content (JPI, JPE, JPO, JPU, and JPZ specimens). This reduction was caused by the low CHF-SBA-polyester interface bond area, as indicated by the increased fiber pullout (Figure 7).…”

“…The presence of lignin and hemicellulose led to the slick surface in the fiber which in turn led to the fiber pullout. [32,55] It well known that the debonding between the matrix-fiber surface, fiber pullout, fiber fracture, matrix fissures, and fractures are the primary causes of poor strength. [56][57][58][59] This might explain why the tensile strength of CHF/SBA composites decreases as the CHF concentration increases.…”