EFFECTS OF CHEMICAL TREATMENT ON CONSTITUENTS, TENSILE STRRENGTHS AND MICROSTRUCTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF NATURAL FIBERS

Abstract

Recently, natural fibers have distinguished themselves as an exceptional material that provides a cheap and plentiful substitute for synthetic fibers which are expensive and non-renewable. In this study, selected natural fibers from banana, plantain, and sisal were examined in order to ascertain the possibility or otherwise of plantain fiber which is common in Nigeria but are yet to be recognized globally. Selected fibers were extracted and treated to modify their constituents and surface morphology using sodium hydroxide solution. Both treated and untreated fibers were characterized and, from the results, improvements in fiber properties were noticed. The impact of this chemical modification on constituents, tensile strengths and surface morphology of fiber were examined using an Instron testing machine and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The results showed that chemical treatment increased the fiber’s tensile strength with plantain having optimum value of 689 MPa after treatment while the removal of some fiber constituents caused the surface morphology to be rough. Its cellulose contents before and after treatment was 45.64 and 51.11 %, respectively. Thus, it was found that alkaline treatment improved the quality of the fiber making the fiber an acceptable replacement for synthetic fibers in composite creation.