Mechanical Properties of Unidirectional Flax Fabric-Reinforced Furan Composites: Effect of Alkaline Treatment and Silane Coupling Treatment

Abstract

Composite materials based on bio-derived furan resin and natural fiber as reinforcing elements were studied. The purpose of this research is to improve the mechanical properties of this composite material by focusing on the natural fiber treatment methods. Unidirectional flax fabric was pretreated by alkaline treatment, silane coupling treatment, and the combination between alkaline and silane treatment before impregnating with furan resin. Three-point bending test, SEM observation, and ATR-IR analysis were carried out to evaluate the effects of treatment methods on the composite samples. Results reveal that the flexural strength of the composite was increased to 215MPa, 232MPa, 247MPa for alkaline, silane, and alkaline-silane treated composites respectively while the flexural strength of the untreated composite sample is 200MPa. SEM images show the effects of alkaline treatment on a single flax fiber at different treatment durations. The coupling of silane on the surface of flax fiber was confirmed by ATR-IR.

Improving the Mechanical Properties of Ramie-Polylactic Acid Green Composites by Surface Modification using Single Bath Alkaline and Silane Treatment

“…Another well-established way to enhance the interface of natural bres in polymeric matrices is the use of coupling agents. Silane-based coupling agents promote covalent bonding between natural bres and polymeric matrices [21][22][23][24][25][26]. The mechanism of surface modi cation using coupling agents involves the reaction of alkoxysilane group with hydroxy groups present on the bre surface and another active group with a polymer matrix [27].…”

“…They found that these composites' mechanical properties improved signi cantly compared to that of untreated natural bre composites. Aphichartsuphapkhajorn et al [24] used alkaline and silane simultaneously on ax bre followed by composite fabrication with biobased resin furan. The study revealed that the combination of alkali and silane yielded better mechanical properties than that obtained with individual alkali or individual silane treatment.…”