The incorporation of untreated and alkali-treated banana fiber in SEBS composites

Abstract

In this work, banana fiber was used as reinforcement for the preparation of a thermoplastic elastomer composite (TPE). Few studies are exploring the natural fiber incorporation on TPEs, with no one using banana fiber. The fiber was extracted from banana pseudostem and modified with an alkaline solution. The untreated and treated banana fibers were incorporated in 2%, 5%, and 10% in SEBS. The mixture was performed in a thermokinetic mixer (K-Mixer) and plates prepared by compression molding. The composites were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopic (SEM), tensile testing, mechanical dynamical analysis (DMA). It can be observed that the samples with untreated fibers presented a higher tensile strength, except for the incorporation of 5% of BF. Young's modulus increase as the fiber's incorporation grows, indicating greater rigidity of the composite. It was found that the chemically treated banana fiber composites, e.g., TPE/TBF5 and TPE/TBF10, shows a 15.4% and 22.2% higher elongation.

Effect of Chemical Treatments on the Mechanical Properties of Jute/Polyester Composites

“…At 1450 cm −1 , the peak is related to C-H vibrations [25]. The peak at 1030 cm −1 is associated with the stretching vibration of O-C-O present in cellulose and hemicellulose, and the C-O and C-C stretching vibrations [26].…”