Preparation and Testing of Bast Fiber Reinforced Thermoplastic Composites under Chemical Treatment

Abstract

INTRODUCTIONNatural fiber composites (NFs) have recently seen a significant increase in interest [1][2][3][4][5]. Due to their high toughness, high specific characteristics, light weight, recyclability, low cost, and "eco-friendliness," NFs including vetiver, calotropis gigantea, abaca, snake grass, etc. are currently widely employed to produce composites [6, 7]. Hydrophobic thermoplastics are inherently incompatible with these fibers. Plant fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites, despite significant flaws in industrial packaging and performance for sheet work, fences, furniture, and building, are becoming more and more appealing [8, 9]. Haydar and colleagues' extensive study on NF composites has shown that they are a fantastic alternative to synthetic materials [10][11][12][13][14].Calotropis gigantea fiber (CGF) is known as bast fiber. We selected CGF because it is an oil-absorbing component used in the oil separation process to remove oil from water and has suitable buoyancy, hydrophobic-oleophilic properties, a high oil absorption capacity, and an oil-water separation efficiency. CGF inhabits China, India, Bangladesh, among other countries, and is a member of the Asclepiadaceae family. As a raw material with inherent biodegradability, CGF is mostly used in the textile industry. Calotropis produces a hardy fabric that can be used for fishing nets, ropes, carpets, and sewing thread.This tree can reach heights of 3 to 5 meters and produces clusters of waxy blooms. It also has milky-tasting stalks with oval-shaped pale green leaves that are further supplemented by fibers. For the creation of composite materials, the fibers extracted from the CG plant's stems are employed. Extract CG bark fiber has a composition of 73.8 percent ABSTRACT: Thermoplastic polypropylene (PP) composites containing 10, 20, 30, and 40% wt% of calotropis gigantea fiber (CGF) were created in the current study using compression molding in the presence of alkaline pretreated CGF (ACGF), which was modified with aminopropyltrimethoxy silane (ACGF/AS) and tetramethoxyorthosilicate (ACGF/TS) as a silane coupling agent. The composites' CGF content has been tuned, and a 40 weight percent CGF content exhibited the optimum mechanical performance. In comparison to virgin PP, composites containing 40% CGF increased their impact strength and tensile strength by 225.4% and 54.2%, respectively, but only 39% when using 30% CGF. After alkali pretreatment, silane is added to CGF/PP composites to improve the mechanical properties, which in turn cause the composites to absorb water. The increase in CGF content has made this tendency more obvious. When compared to CGF/PP composites, which demonstrated 18% tensile modulus and 59% impact strength, ACGF/TS/PP composites showed maximal mechanical characteristics at 40 wt% CGF content, while CGF/PP composites only managed 20% tensile strength at 30% CGF content. To find out more about fiber-matrix adhesion, SEM revealed enhanced adhesion between CGF and PP following silane modification. The horizontal combustion ...