Effect of Chemical Treatment on the Tensile Strength Behavior of Coir Geotextiles

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe present study investigates the effects of chemical treatment on the tensile strength behavior of the two woven and two nonwoven coir geotextiles. The results reveal that tensile elongation at failure for the untreated and treated woven and nonwoven coir geotextiles was higher in the warp direction in comparison to the weft direction. The tensile elongation at failure for the untreated and treated woven coir geotextiles were influenced by the stiffness and the opening of kinks in the coir yarn whereas the tensile elongation at failure of the untreated/treated nonwoven coir geotextiles was influenced by the presence of the polyethylene (PE) yarn used in stitching along with PE netting and diameter of the yarn used in PE netting. The chemical treatment decreased and increased the tensile strength of both the woven and nonwoven coir geotextiles, respectively. The mass per unit area of woven coir geotextile decreased whereas it increased for both the nonwoven coir geotextiles after the chemical treatment. The chemical treatment modifies the surface characteristics of both the untreated woven and nonwoven coir geotextiles due the removal of impurities and filling up the voids present on the surface.