Processing of Natural Jute Fibres using Glow Discharge Plasma and its Characterization

Natural Jute fibres have been plasma treated in Low temperature DC plasma Source under various external conditions such as working pressure, treatment time etc. The samples were characterized and morphologically analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), EDAX. The software Gwyddion (version 2.35) has been used for image processing of the SEM images to understand the surface morphology. The ImageJ software visualizes the 3-D images of jute fibres. SEM analysis reveals that roughness of the fibre surface is increasing as the working plasma pressure is increasing and exposure times are reduced. Elemental analysis of the raw and plasma treated fibres have been tested by EDAX which shows that oxygen percentage is more for the typical condition of 0.05mbar working pressure and 2 hour plasma exposure of the fibre. This condition is understood to yield the best hydrophobic nature of the treated fibre. This behavior was also confirmed by a crude method by finding the water absorption percentage. The XRD results confirm the macro molecular changes in treated jute fibres. The moisture removal from the fibres can be evident from TGA (thermo gravimetric analysis) results