Effect of chemical and biological treatments on Agave americana yarn braid reinforced composite structures

Abstract

The environmental issues existing all over the world have pushed the researchers to innovate products that would lead to the reduction of all sorts of pollution. This study focused on the utilization of underutilized Agave Americana fibres in yarn form after converting them into braids. An attempt has been made to modify the surface of the fibers using enzyme and alkali for improvising the uptake and adherence of resin which enhances the properties of composites. The spun Agave Americana fibres were procured and treated chemically and biologically for removing the fibre chemical constituents and natural oils that cover the outer layer of the fiber cell wall. The fibres from the yarn showed the improvement in morphological analysis after treatments which have increased the fiber-matrix adhesion leading to the improved mechanical properties of the composites. Both the treated yarns were braided for reinforcements to provide unique structural features and characteristics to the composites. The matrix used was epoxy resin because of its superior qualities and high performance. The roughness of the composite structure reinforced with the chemical treated yarn braid reinforced samples was the highest with 27.60 over the untreated and enzyme treated samples. The tensile strength of alkaline treated yarn braid reinforced composites increased with 48.56% over the untreated yarn braid reinforced composites whereas the enzyme treated yarn braid reinforced composites exhibited only 37.89% increase over the untreated sample. As for the flexural strength, the results were in contrast with the tensile strength results as the enzyme treated yarn braid reinforced composites showed more increase with 42.16% whereas it was only 34.33% in the alkali treated yarn braid reinforced composites. At higher temperatures the thermal stability was noted to be the highest in the alkali treated sample with 92.5%. These results have shown that these treatments and braided structure can be used as reinforcement for bringing good performance composite structures.