Abstract
The study systematically explored the effect of alkali concentration and soaking time on the microstructure and tensile properties of single-cellulosic Buluh Semantan. Scanning electron microscopy and tensile tests were conducted to determine the effects of different alkali treatments on the properties of the single-cellulosic bamboo fibers. In particular, the effects of NaOH concentration and soaking time on the tensile properties of the single-cellulosic bamboo fiber were investigated. The single-cellulosic bamboo fiber was immersed in 2, 4, 6, and 8 wt.% aqueous NaOH solutions for soaking times of 1, 3, 6, 12, 18, and 24 h. The tensile properties of the fiber increased after each alkali treatment. The alkali concentration and soaking time significantly affected the fiber properties. The ultimate tensile strength of the single-cellulosic Buluh Semantan treated with 2 wt.% NaOH for 12 h decreased to 214 MPa relative to the fibers that experienced water retting. The highest tensile strength herein was 356.8 MPa for the single-cellulosic fiber that was soaked for 12 h in 4 wt.% NaOH. Comparatively, the tensile strength of the single-cellulosic bamboo fiber that was soaked for 12 h in 8 wt.% NaOH was 234.8 MPa. The tensile modulus of the single-cellulosic fiber was 12.06 GPa after soaking in 8 wt.% NaOH for 18 h, indicating that a strong alkali treatment negatively affected the stiffness and suitability for use of the fibers in applications. The topography of the fiber surface became much rougher after the alkali treatments due to the removal of hemicellulose and other surface impurities. The alkali treatments substantially changed the morphology of the fiber surface, suggesting an increase in wettability.
Highlights
Due to the increasing awareness of environmentally friendly biomaterials, natural fibers have gained widespread attention as a prospective alternative to synthetic fibers, for their composite applications in the construction and automobile industries [1,2]
The bamboo fiber species used in this study was Gigantochloa scortechinii, which is commonly known as semantan bamboo and was obtained from Pahang, Malaysia
The mean diameter of single bamboo fiber strips was measured from the average of ten fibers, in which the diameter for every fiber was the average value of the diameter measured ten times at 4.5 mm intervals along the fiber length
Summary
Due to the increasing awareness of environmentally friendly biomaterials, natural fibers have gained widespread attention as a prospective alternative to synthetic fibers, for their composite applications in the construction and automobile industries [1,2]. Surface modification is necessary to improve the adhesion of fiber-polymeric materials, such as silane coupling agents [20], compatibilizers [21], alkali treatments [22,23,24], and heat treatments [25], which are often used to introduce a decreased number of polar groups and replace hydroxyl groups on bamboo fiber surfaces, as a means to decrease the water absorption and aggregation in the fiber [26] Among all these treatments, mercerization or alkali treatments are versatile and bring about changes in the dimensions, fine structure, chemical composition, morphology, and crystalline component; they improve the wettability and resin pick up of natural fibers, like coir, sisal, flax, and cotton. The morphologies of the fracture surfaces were examined by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
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