Natural fibers offer an excellent choice to replace glass and carbon. The current research objectives are to find the optimal uses of the natural fiber and to address known challenges, such as high degree of moisture absorption and poor thermal stability. Surface modification by means of chemical treatment was carried out to remove components of natural fibers such as lignin, pectin and hemicellulose that contribute to the known challenges of natural fibers. In this research study, chemical treatments were used on a commercially obtained woven flax fiber. Alkali treatment were chosen for this project at various times and concentrations. The treatment analysis was divided into two phases: 1) Alkali treatment using potassium hydroxide varying the concentration between 1 and 5% for 30 minutes and 1 hour thus 1, 3, and 5% for 2, 4, and 8 hours, and 2) Analyze effects of the surface modification on the thermal properties. The Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) data in the first and second stages of treatment show very little change in the degradation temperature, when compared to the neat at 353.29� C. The samples treated for 1 hour & 30 minutes showed a temperature increase from 362.51� C & 356.29� C respectively. A common pattern was noticed for all of the treatment times, where the 2 � 3 % batches decrease in temperature like the neat system, but still showed an increase. There was a 3 � 4% reduction in the amount of residue compared the neat samples at 18.17%. These results indicate that the treatment causes the amount of moisture to reduce, which leaves less char. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to study specific treatment time and concentration where the fibers began to degrade the cell walls. From the SEM results, 3% KOH for 4 hours showed the best results.

Degradation of thermal properties of surface treated woven flax fibers

246th National Meeting (2013)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.