Abstract
The design of green fiber-reinforced nanocomposites with enhanced properties and durability has attracted attention from scientists. The present study aims to investigate the potential of bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) as a green additive for fiber–cement composites. Inverse gas chromatography (IGC) was used to evaluate the influence of incorporation of BNC as powder or gel, or coated onto the bagasse fibers, on the fiber–cement composite (FCC) surface. The results indicated that BNC incorporation made the FCC surface more reactive, increasing the dispersive component of the surface energy. The most relevant effects were found for BNC incorporation as gel or coated on the fibers. Incorporation of BNC as gel resulted in a predominantly organic FCC surface with substantial decreased surface basicity (K a/K b ratio from 2.88 to 5.75). IGC also showed that FCC with BNC incorporated as gel was more susceptible to hydration. However, BNC coated on fibers prevented fiber mineralization, increasing the inorganic materials at the surface, which caused an increase in the surface basicity (K a/K b ratio decrease to 2.00). These promising results could contribute to development of a new generation of green hybrid composites. The IGC technique enabled understanding of the physicochemical changes that occur on deliberate introduction of nanosized bacterial cellulose into fiber–cement composites.
Highlights
Due to growing environmental awareness and societal concern, together with the unsustainable consumption of petroleum and new environmental regulations, this century has witnessed remarkable achievements in green materials science technology
To produce bacterial nanocellulose (BNC), the bacterial strain Gluconacetobacter xylinus was cultured in Hestrin–Schramm medium as described in Mohammadkazemi et al (2015)
To obtain BNC coated on bagasse fibers, a dispersion of 0.1 wt% BNC was prepared in deionized water, to which bagasse fibers were added and left at 30 °C overnight
Summary
Due to growing environmental awareness and societal concern, together with the unsustainable consumption of petroleum and new environmental regulations, this century has witnessed remarkable achievements in green materials science technology. Cellulosic fibers provide adequate bonding capacity to cement-based matrices for substantial enhancement of their flexural strength, toughness, and impact resistance (Morton et al 2010; Savastano et al 2003). These fibers decrease the free plastic shrinkage (Toledo Filho et al 2003), decrease the thermal conductivity, and improve the acoustic performance by increasing sound absorption (Neithalath et al 2004). Due to these advantages, fiber–cement composites (FCCs) have found practical commercial applications as replacements for hazardous asbestos materials. FCC products can be widely found in siding and roofing materials and backer boards, among others
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