Abstract
The use of chemical modification of cellulosic fibre is applied in order to increase the hydrophobicity, hence improving the compatibility between the fibre and matrix bonding. In this study, the effect of propionic anhydride modification of kenaf fibre was investigated to determine the role of bionanocarbon from oil palm shell agricultural wastes in the improvement of the functional properties of bionanocomposites. The vinyl esters reinforced with unmodified and propionic anhydride modified kenaf fibres bio nanocomposites were prepared using 0, 1, 3, 5 wt% of bio-nanocarbon. Characterisation of the fabricated bionanocomposite was carried out using FESEM, TEM, FT-IR and TGA to investigate the morphological analysis, surface properties, functional and thermal analyses, respectively. Mechanical performance of bionanocomposites was evaluated according to standard methods. The chemical modification of cellulosic fibre with the incorporation of bionanocarbon in the matrix exhibited high enhancement of the tensile, flexural, and impact strengths, for approximately 63.91%, 49.61% and 54.82%, respectively. The morphological, structural and functional analyses revealed that better compatibility of the modified fibre–matrix interaction was achieved at 3% bionanocarbon loading, which indicated improved properties of the bionanocomposite. The nanocomposites exhibited high degradation temperature which signified good thermal stability properties. The improved properties of the bionanocomposite were attributed to the effect of the surface modification and bionanocarbon enhancement of the fibre–matrix networks.
Highlights
Kenaf fibre is one of the most utilised natural fibres for non-woven products due to its intrinsic functional properties which include effective tensile and thermal properties [1]
As the reaction time was increased from 60 min to 180 min, spontaneous weight gain was achieved beyond which steep decrease in weight percent gain (WPG) was exhibited by the kenaf fibre
The decline in WPG due to the effect of increased reaction temperature could be as a result of the effect of degradation of the cellulose, hemicelullose and lignin composition of the kenaf fibre [28]
Summary
Kenaf fibre is one of the most utilised natural fibres for non-woven products due to its intrinsic functional properties which include effective tensile and thermal properties [1]. No study has been reported on the chemically modified propionic anhydride kenaf fibre in vinyl ester composite and enhancement of functional properties of bionanocomposite using nanocarbon from oil palm shell (OPS) as nanofiller. Nanocarbon from OPS was used to enhance the functional properties including the compatibility of fibre–matrix interaction and improved mechanical-thermal properties of the nanocomposite. The study aimed to fabricate and characterise nanocomposite prepared by incorporating modified propionic anhydride kenaf fibre in vinyl ester matrix and the enhancement of the functional properties by the addition of nanocarbon at different filler loading. Characterisation of the fabricated nanocomposite investigates the functional properties including the physical, mechanical, morphological, structural, and thermal properties to determine the influence of the nano filler in the fibre–matrix interaction of the bionanocomposite. All chemicals used in this study were of analytical grade
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