Citation
Mohamed Latiff, Ahmad Syahmi
(2019)
Mechanical and thermal properties of surface treated sugar palm fibre-reinforced epoxy biocomposites.
Masters thesis, Universiti Putra Malaysia.
Abstract
A number of chemical treatment processes of natural fibres such as jute, kenaf, sisal,
flax etc have been practised to improve the structure of natural fibre in order to help
them to form a strong bonding with resin in bio-composites making. However, as for
sugar palm fibre there are not many treatments available due to limited research has
been done on it. The only treatments that can be found for sugar palm fibre are sodium
hydroxide (NaOH) and sea water treatments. This thesis focused on the study of new
treatment for sugar palm fibre which is benzoylation (benzoyl chloride) treatment. The
purpose of benzoylation is to reduce the hydrophilicity of sugar palm fibre and improve
its chemical interlocking at the interface. This helps the fibre to be more compatible
with polymer matrix and form a strong bonding. The mechanical properties of both
untreated and treated sugar palm fibres were studied. The sugar palm fibres were being
treated with sodium hydroxide and benzoyl chloride respectively to alter the
composition of the fibre and to improve its properties. In single fibre testing, the highest
improvement in tensile strength was observed in fibre treated with benzoyl chloride for
30 minutes soaking time with increment of 47.5 % compared to untreated fibre. The
second highest was fibre treated with NaOH, showing increment of 35.1 % compared
to untreated fibre. For sugar palm composite with 30 % fibre loading, the fibre treated
with NaOH showed highest tensile strength with value of 54.8 MPa, followed by fibre
treated with benzoyl chloride with 54 MPa and lastly untreated fibre with 38.3 MPa.
For thermal properties, benzoylation process show significant improvement in all
testing performed which are thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), dynamic mechanical
analysis (DMA), thermomechanical analysis (TMA) and differential scanning
calorimetry (DSC). This show that benzoylation process gives the fibre and its
composites a better thermal stability than other composites. Based on the results
obtained, it can be concluded that both benzoyl chloride and sodium hydroxide
treatments improved the properties of sugar palm fibres and its composites.
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