Effect of Particle Size and Alkali Treatment of Sugarcane Bagasse on Thermal, Mechanical, and Morphological Properties of PVC-Bagasse Composites

Abstract

This article evaluates the use of bagasse flour — a waste generated by sugarcane refinery—as a filler in the PVC matrix. The aim of the study is to develop a value-added product from the sugar mills. For this purpose, bagasse powder was obtained after grinding the dried waste from sugar mills having particle sizes of 100—150 µm and <50 µm. In order to evaluate the effect of filler content and alkali treatment of bagasse, several PVC formulations were obtained by dry-mixing PVC compound with filler of varying particle size. The compounds were obtained by blending on a hot roll mill followed by compression molding. The test specimens were punched out from the sheets and the effect of filler content, particle size, and alkali treatment of bagasse powder on the properties of PVC were evaluated. Tensile strength, percent elongation at break, and impact strength of composites decreased whereas stiffness, modulus, and hardness of the composites increased with increasing amount of filler. The particle size had a large effect on the properties of composites, and the filler having particle size <50 µm gave better properties as compared to filler with particle size of 100—150 µm. Some improvement in properties was observed when treated bagasse powder was used as filler. An increase of ∼48% in tensile modulus, ∼10% in thermal stability, and 14% in impact strength was observed as compared to neat PVC at a filler loading of 30 phr. Morphological characterization was done using a scanning electron microscopy. A uniform dispersion of filler was observed.