Effect of mercerized surface treated natural fiber to the tensile properties of green composite

Abstract

This research deals with fabrication and tensile properties characterization of green composite (GC). In this research, GC was made from ramie, coir and bagasse fiber as reinforcement with polylactic acid (PLA) biodegradable resin. To improve the adhesion between fiber and PLA also increasing tensile properties of GC, mercerization or NaOH fiber treatment is used. This is aimed to observe the effect of NaOH fiber surface treatment on the tensile properties of GC. Ramie, bagasse, and coir fiber were chopped (2-3mm) and immersed in 5 wt% NaOH for 2, 3 and 4 hours respectively. The GC with ten wt% fiber loading was prepared by pouring the fiber in a melted PLA at 170°C and stirring them for a homogenizing process. Then pour it in a metallic mold, the pressure at 10MPa was applied for 10 minutes. Six types of GC were obtained, such as R/PLA, C/PLA, B/PLA, RC / PLA, RB/PLA, and RCB/PLA, both of untreated and NaOH treated fiber. The tensile test was done to observe the effect of NaOH fiber surface treatment on the tensile properties of GC. The entire result showed that the tensile properties of GC were affected by fiber surface treatment and meaningless existence. The highest tensile strength and modulus of elasticity were obtained from GC with untreated R/PLA, 56.88±1.17 MPa and 363.37±11.44 MPa respectively.