The Effect of Alkalization Treatment on Fiber-Matrix Compatibility in Natural Fiber Reinforced Composite

Abstract

This work was aimed to investigate the effect of alkalization treatment on the fiber-matrix interfacial interaction and hence their compatibility. Kenaf fiber was treated using a 6% NaOH solution for 8 hours. The composites were produced by mixing the treated fiber with PP at various temperatures, duration, and fiber composition. Alteration on the surface chemistry of the fiber was identified by performing FTIR analysis. The surface energy of the treated fiber was mathematically derived from the contact angle measurement results. The compatibility level between treated fiber and PP matrix was visualized through FESEM analysis. Tensile strength tests were also conducted to obtain data necessary for exploring the relationship between the thermodynamic aspects of the fiber-matrix interfacial interaction and the mechanical properties of the composites. The FTIR spectra show that there was significant increase in the %transmittance at wavelength range of 3100-3600 cm-1 indicating that O-H groups were degraded during treatment. However, the polar component of the surface energy for treated fiber was instead higher compared to the untreated one. The SEM images show that there are no noticeable reduction in the size of the treated fibers as expected. On the other hand, the tensile strength of the PP-treated fibers composites reached its highest value when the matrix were loaded with fibers at the lowest percentage i.e. 5%.

Alkaline Degradation of Plant Fiber Reinforcements in Geopolymer: A Review

“…Camargo et al [ 37 ] studied the compatibility of the geopolymer and PFs according to the method of compatibility between PFs and cement-based materials. Yuanita et al [ 63 ] studied the effect of alkalization treatment on the compatibility between PF and the matrix. Hachmi et al [ 64 ] studied the influence of 12 PFs on cement hydration and their compatibility indices.…”

Research Progress on Durability of Cellulose Fiber-Reinforced Cement-Based Composites

“…These fibers can be modified to improve their internal and external structures and mechanical performance. The modification of CFs mainly includes physical modification, chemical modification, and biological modification, among which chemical modification is the most common [87][88][89][90], as shown in Table 6.…”

Preparation of Composite Reinforced Agent Based on Sweet Sorghum Stalk Fiber through Alkali Pressure Steam Treated Method

“…The peak of 1241 cm -1 indicated aromatic bond, C-C asymmetric of lignin, C-O and C-C bond of lignin. While 1021 and 896 cm -1 showed C-O-C bond of hemicellulose monomer and C-O and C-O-C stretching of lignin (Iskandar et al, 2022;Yuanita et al, 2020;Zevallos Torres et al, 2021). There was a shift in spectra of lignin and hemicellulose to the treated fibers, both with hydrothermal and APS treatment.…”

“…More Na+ ion during the reaction and that ion is able to widen and penetrate the small pores between the lattice planes of cellulose. This phenomena could make the fiber-O-Na structure with relative bigger dimension and larger distance between molecules (Yuanita et al, 2020). As a result, this gave bigger rooms for H2O molecules and made the fiber become more hydrophilic compared to the pristine and other treated fiber.…”

“…Thermal energy of APS treatment broke hydrogen bond of the OH group and then Na + ion of the NaOH solution substituted the hydrogen so the OH become O-Na group which has more hydrophobic. The following reaction take place during alkali thermal treatment of natural fiber (Yuanita et al, 2020).…”