Study of Mechanical and Chemical Properties of Biodegradable Fibers before and after Alkali Treatment

The Tensile, Flexural properties, Chemical resistance and Scanning Electron Microscope analysis of bamboo, jute and grass fibers reinforced polyester composites were studied. The effect of alkali treatment of the bamboo, jute and grass fibers on these properties was also studied. It was observed that flexural properties of the hybrid composite increase with bamboo fiber content. These properties found to be higher when alkali treated bamboo fibers were used in the hybrid composites. The elimination of amorphous hemi-cellulose with alkali treated leading to higher crystallinity of the bamboo fibers with alkali treatment may be responsible for these observations. The author investigated the interfacial bonding between Glass/Bamboo reinforced epoxy composites. The effect of alkali treatment on the bonding between Glass/Bamboo composites was also studied. The chemical resistance of Bamboo, jute and grass reinforced polyester composites to acetic acid, Nitric acid, Hydrochloric acid, Sodium hydroxide, Sodium carbonate, Benzene, Toluene, carbon tetrachloride and water was studied. Keywords:Bamboo fiber, jute fiber, grass fiber composites, chemical resistance, polyester, flexural strength, tensile strength, SEM test, chemical resistance test