Eco-friendly Fiber Research Articles

Sisal fiber‐reinforced green composites: Effect of ecofriendly fiber treatment

This research endeavor explores the effect of economical and environment‐friendly treatment of sisal fibers, prior to their incorporation into poly‐lactic acid (PLA). Biocomposites incorporating sisal fibers (30% [w:w]) treated with sodium bicarbonate (10% [w:v]) aqueous solution for varying time periods (24, 72, 120, and 168 h) were developed using extrusion‐injection molding process. Thermogravimetric analysis, morphological examination, Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy, and lignocellulosic composition analysis of raw and treated sisal fibers established a gradual removal of hemicellulosic content from fiber surface with increasing treatment time. Biocomposites incorporating sisal fibers treated for 72 h exhibited optimum tensile, flexural, and compressive properties. While in case of impact testing, biocomposites incorporating sisal fibers treated for 24 h exhibited maximum impact strength. The optimum results were found comparable to sodium hydroxide treated sisal fiber‐reinforced biocomposites. Hence, considering commercialization of biocomposites, sodium bicarbonate treatment offers huge potential to substitute ecologically hazardous sodium hydroxide treatment ensuring good mechanical properties. POLYM. COMPOS., 39:4310–4321, 2018. © 2017 Society of Plastics Engineers

Toward high performance renewable agave reinforced biocomposites: Optimization of fiber performance and fiber-matrix adhesion analysis

Abstract The increasing sensitivity toward the environmental pollution and the recent laws on the environmental protection, have led to an increasing attention to the so called biocomposites, i.e. to ecofriendly or renewable composite materials, obtained from biopolymers reinforced by natural fibers. Although the contribution of various works reported in literature, focused on biocomposites reinforced by agave fibers, such materials are still exclusively used in the automotive industry for non-structural applications, and the implementation of high performance biocomposites for semi-structural and structural applications, is an expected, but not yet reached objective. Therefore, the present work aims to give a contribution to reach such an objective, by means of a proper selection of the fiber, in terms of variety, age and position, as well as by the implementation of a new ecofriendly fiber extraction method that allows the user to obtain fibers with improved mechanical performance. In more detail, it is shown that the agave marginata, widespread in the Mediterranean area, provides fiber with performance higher than the agave sisalana commonly considered in literature, and its performance can be furtherly improved by proper optimization of the main influence parameters and the extraction process. On the basis of these optimized fibers, as well as of thermoplastic and thermosetting matrixes, particularly suitable for the manufacturing of high performance ecofriendly biocomposites, an accurate theoretical-experimental analysis on the fiber-matrix adhesion has allowed first to confirm the good adhesion of the agave with epoxy and PLA matrixes, as well as to detect the actual influence of the mercerization treatments and the significant effects of the stiffness of the coupled materials on the potential pull-out and/or debonding damage mechanisms.

Application of Hydrated Basil Seeds (HBS) as the herbal fiber on hole cleaning and filtration control

Application of the fiber contained fluids has been extensively increased in many industries. In the petroleum industry, fibrous fluids are utilized for different applications. For instance, they have been applied in drilling operations for hole cleaning and cutting removal. In this article, the results of the studies performed on the application of Hydrated Basil Seeds (HBS) as the herbal eco-friendly fiber on hole cleaning and filtration control were presented.In order to investigate the application of HBS on hole cleaning, Polyacrylamide (PA) was added to the pure water to provide the base fluid and HBS at different concentrations were suspended in the base fluid and the effect of HBS on both the rheological behavior and the specific heat capacity of the base fluid was experimentally investigated. Then, the settlement behavior of the particles with different densities and diameters in the HBS contained base fluid at static condition was studied. In addition, a flow loop system was utilized in order to investigate the effect of HBS on hole cleaning at dynamic condition. Furthermore, a mathematical analysis was carried out on settlement behavior of the particles. Finally, the sensitivity analysis was performed on HBS concentration for different particle diameters and hole angles. The results indicate that HBS could be utilized at low concentrations for efficient hole cleaning.Then, to investigate the application of HBS on filtration control, a bentonite mud was prepared as the base fluid and Low Pressure/ Low Temperature (LP/LT) API filtration test was conducted on it. Sodium chloride was added to the base fluid additionally and the filtration test was conducted on this fluid as well. Ultimately, HBS at different concentrations was added to the sodium chloride contained base fluid and filtration performance of the provided fluid was evaluated. In addition, similar experiment was conducted at High Pressure/ High Temperature (HP/HT) condition in order to assess the thermal stability of HBS. All performed experiments show the applicability of HBS at lower concentrations on appropriate filtration control.

Mechanical and interfacial properties of bare basalt fiber

As an emerging eco-friendly fiber, the continuous basalt fiber (BF) has been widely used to reinforce polymers. However, there is a lack of information on the mechanical and interfacial properties of bare BF, which may be of great importance for the design of high-performance material. In this paper, the chemical constitution and morphology tests, single fiber tensile tests, Zeta potential, and dynamic contact angle measurements were employed to characterize the perspective of BF raw materials formulators and sizings designers. The results revealed that the bare BF surface was smooth in axial direction and homogeneous in radial direction. The tensile strength from single fiber tensile tests depends on the gage lengths. In particular, the biggest tensile strength by arithmetic statistics of 2620 MPa and Weibull statistics of 2669 MPa was achieved at the same gage length of 20 mm. By means of the analysis of mathematical model regression, the corrected tensile modulus of bare BF was 87.72 GPa. With decreasing pH values, the zeta potential of bare BF was −32.22 mV at the neutral solution. The surface energy of bare BF was 67.80 mN/m, and was dominated by its polar component. More importantly, the results demonstrated that the raw materials of basalt should be melted by electrically aided flame furnaces, and cationic or non-ionic reagents should be selected for sizings formulas which was emphasized on chemical or electrical interactions between BF and resins.

Eco-friendly Fibre from Recycled Polypropylene of Bottle Cap Waste and Lignin

Ecofriendly fibre is one of potential alternatives to fulfill the rising demand in textile material supply which is limited due to the decreasing reserve of oil. Large amount of polypropylene waste from bottle cap and lignin as a byproduct from pulp industry are potential solutions. Grinded polypropylene bottle cap was blended with lignin powder in concentration of 5 wt. % processed by melt spinning at 170° C temperature. The fibres produced have an average diameter 170 and 250 micrometres. In view of the mechanical properties. the tensile strength is 11.9 MPa for fibre with 170 micrometres diameter and 14.7 MPa for fibre with 250 micrometres diameter. Fibre surface morphology was further studied using micron microscope. and the result shows black flocks spread in the fibre. indicating that the lignin does not blend evenly.

Angora/merino and eri silk: a new union woven fabric for fashion

Woven designed fabrics with ecofriendly fibre are more in demand. Now-adays consumer are fashion and health conscious so that they switch towards the ecofriendly fabrics. In this paper, woven designed union fabric has been woven in dobby loom by using twisted angora/merino (38.84 tex), untwisted angora/merino (36.65 tex) and eri silk (27.23 tex) yarns. Total number of 6 union woven fabrics were prepared by using 3 types of design i.e. zigzag, combination of herringbone and basket weave and combination of twill and plain weave from which three union woven fabrics with eri as warp and untwisted angora/merino as weft and three union fabric with twisted angora/merino as warp and eri as weft were made. These designed woven union fabrics were assessed for fashion fabric. It was found that designed union fabrics suitable for apparel purpose.

Effect of Common Chemical Treatments on the Process Kinetics and Mechanical Properties of Flax/Epoxy Composites Manufactured by Resin Infusion

Chemical treatments are widely employed to improve the fiber-matrix adhesion in composites based on eco-friendly fibers such as flax. To better understand the influence of these treatments on processing behavior, this study characterized the surface chemistry and morphology of woven flax fabrics treated by acetone, alkaline, silane and diluted epoxy. Flax/epoxy composites were then manufactured by resin infusion and the flow front and preform thickness evolution was monitored. The alkaline treatment was shown to result in a 50 % increase in equivalent permeability due to an increase in porosity which led to a decrease in flexural properties. The processing results were found to be in good agreement with predictions of a 1-dimensional model. This study suggests that infusion times are not considerably affected by the observed changes in surface energy. However, other implications of the treatments such as an increase in fibrillation can alter the infusion times significantly.

Random Sample

A microbiologist has used the proteins in dairy milk to create the first industrial, all-natural, and eco-friendly fiber fit for the runway. Her dairy-produced threads won an innovation award at the July 2011 Berlin Fashion Week.

식물성 섬유와 폴리에스테르 섬유의 혼합 부직포 제조 및 특성 -어저귀, 칡섬유를 중심으로-

Nonwoven fabrics have been widely used in various fields that include household, industrial, agricultural, medical goods, especially in the automobile industry. In this study, eco-friendly fiber materials were developed and investigated as a substitute material for polyester fibers in nonwovens. To make plant fiber bundles, stems of Indian mallow (IM), and Kuzu vine (KV) were retted; in addition, the non-cellulose component was partially removed. Plant fiber bundles and polyester fibers (P) were blended and needle punched to produce nonwovens. Five kinds of nonwovens were manufactured: P100 (Polyester 100%), IM10 (IM 10% and Polyester 90%), IM20 (IM 20% and Polyester 80%), KV10 (KV 10% and Polyester 90%), and KV20 (KV 20% and Polyester 80%). The color values, surface appearance, tensile strength, elongation, tear strength, abrasion strength, flexstiffness, moisture regain, water or oil absorbency, and static electricity of manufactured nonwovens are investigated. As the blended ratios of IM or KV increased, the brightness of nonwovens decreased compared to that of polyester 100%. Tensile strength, tear strength, abrasion strength, and flexstiffness of IM10 as well as KV10 were higher than those of P100, IM20, and KV20, resulting from the influence of the structure and properties of nonwoven fibers. Moisture regain and water or oil absorbency increased, while static electricity decreased in proportion to the amount of plant fibers. IM or KV and polyester blended nonwovens showed improved properties over P100 that could be substituted for P100 as a novel material for textiles.

Coir Fiber–Process and Opportunities

Growing environmental awareness throughout the world has triggered a paradigm shift towards designing materials compatible with the environment. Coira lignocelluosic natural fiberhas emerging importance as an engineering material due to its high tensile strength and elongation properties. The advantages of natural lignocellulosic fibers include acceptable specific strength properties, low cost, low density and biodegradability. This work is intended to present an overview of the main results presented in literature on this topic, focusing the attention on the fiber properties in terms of physical and chemical structure. Some aspects related to the traditional uses of coir fibers are also presented. Coir, as an ecofriendly fiber, has tremendous potential in India as well as the rest of the World for mattresses, fabric and other novel applications. Research and development efforts have been underway to find new use areas for coir.