Effect of different chemical treatment on the properties of banana peduncle fibres

Abstract

Banana peduncle fibres (BPF) are new natural fibres that need the attention of researcher. In this study, the effect of chemical treatments on the BPF for possible application in polymer composites production was investigated. Alkali, acetic anhydride, permanganate and silane treatment of BPF were studied. Tensile test and microstructure were used to validate the work. The obtained results shows that alkali treatment fibres have tensile strength of 98.33 N/mm² and untreated fibre strength of 51.62 N/mm², acetic anhydride treatment of the BPF have a maximum tensile strength 108.61 N/mm² at 2 h. Permanganate treatment of BPF maximum strength of 118.89 N/mm² at the 2 h. The celluloses content of the BPF was enhance from 63.40, 75.81, 82.23, 77.78 and 79.67% for the untreated BPF, alkali, silane, KMnO₄ and acetylation treatment. It was established that silane treatment has the best tensile strength after treatment of the BPF.