Effect of chemical treatment on mechanical properties and water diffusion characteristics of jute‐polypropylene composites

Abstract

This work presents the effect of chemical treatment of short jute fibers using alkali, potassium permanganate, and silane treatment on the mechanical properties of jute‐polypropylene (PP) composites. The chemically treated jute fibers were compounded at 30% weight fraction with PP granules in twin‐screw extruder, and the composite pellets were later injection molded to obtain the specimens for the study. The optimum parameters for the respective chemical treatments used in this study were followed as per the literature. The effectiveness of the chemical treatment carried out was studied using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The mechanical characterization comprising tensile test, flexural test, impact test, and microhardness test were conducted on jute‐PP composites. In addition, the effect of chemical treatment on the water absorption kinetics of the jute‐PP composites was studied. The diffusion coefficient of the jute‐PP composite was determined using the approximate solution of Fick's model. The silane‐treated jute‐PP composites show an increase in tensile strength, tensile modulus, and flexural modulus by nearly 6%, 22%, and 20%, respectively, compared to untreated jute‐PP composite. The moisture absorption study reveals that the silane‐treated jute‐PP composite is the most effective.

Experimental and finite element analysis of the impact response of agglomerated cork and its intraply hybrid flax/basalt sandwich structures

“…A more superficial technique such as spraying can ensure a reduction of water absorption velocity but will not have effect on the total amount of water uptake whereas a more bulky treatment such as impregnation provide the covering of some hydroxylic groups even in the inner parts of the fiber reducing the amount of water absorbed. This is confirmed by the study of Hossen et al [74], Chandekar et al [75] and Kusmono et al [76] who found out a significant reduction in water uptake after lignocellulosic fiber impregnation with silanes for jute-coir hybrid PLA and PCL (Poly-caprolactone), jute PP and fan palm polyester composites, respectively. The mentioned studies also pointed out a meaningful improvement of fiber-matrix interface confirmed by tensile and flexural properties better than the ones of the composites produced with the raw fibers.…”

Effect of micro‐sized marble dust on mechanical and thermo‐mechanical properties of needle‐punched nonwoven jute fiber reinforced polymer composites

“…To evaluate the amount of water absorbed by the composite in water absorption test is conducted under constrained conditions. The water absorption in natural fiber composites can occur by several mechanisms like capillary action at the interface, micro voids formed during the processing of the composites 11 . The water absorption of the fabricated composites is plotted against immersion time as shown in Figure 10A.…”

“…Figure 10B shows the diffusivity against fabricated composite and from data collected the diffusion coefficient for NJMD‐0 and NJMD‐1, NJMD‐2 and NJMD‐3 are increased by 55.03%, 89.26% and 91.83%, respectively as compared to NJMD‐0. The increase in diffusion coefficient with the increase in filler wt% is attributed to that over a period of time and the micro‐cracks are formed due to the swelling of fiber 11,27 …”

“…Diffusion coefficient (K), a kinetic parameter about the ability of the solvent molecule to move along the polymer segment, can be calculated using the following Equation 11 : where, t is the initial thickness of the sample (mm), m is the slope of the initial linear portion of the sorption curve and w ∞ is the percentage of water uptake at infinite time.…”

“…The fiber loading varying from 10 to 50 wt% and composite was prepared by hand layup technique and found improvement in the mechanical properties. Chandekar et al 11 studied the effect of different chemical treatments on the Jute‐polypropylene composites fabricated by the injection molding process. It was concluded that the tensile strength, tensile modulus, and flexural modulus were improved by 6%, 20%, and 22% by chemical treatment of fiber.…”