Studies on the effect of alkali and enzymatic treatment on properties of banana fibre and banana polypropylene composites

Abstract

Natural fibre composites are being replaced in many applications today Banana fibres have better properties compared with glass fibres in terms of specific strength and stiffness and can be used as effective reinforcement in composite manufacture. When Banana fibres are used as reinforcement in thermoplastic composites they prove to be sustainable and cheap Polypropylene is a cheap and easy processable matrix material The adhesion between the banana fibre and thermoplastic polypropylene matrix is the major problem to attain the required mechanical properties The various surface treatments of the banana fibres improve the interfacial adhesion between the fibre and matrix The current investigation is to compare the low cost and eco friendly alternative fibre treatment methods with the common alkali treatment The laccase and xylanase enzyme treatments have been given to banana fibres for better interfacial adhesion with the polypropylene matrix Banana pseudo stems were collected from field and the middle layers of the pseudo stem were used for mechanical extraction in a banana fibre extraction machine Banana fibres were treated with NaOH laccase and xylanase enzymes separately at 10% 15% and 20% concentration levels The untreated and all the treated fibres were tested for chemical composition moisture regain density diameter single fibre strength colour morphological analysis using SEM identification of functional groups using FTIR crystallinity using XRD and thermogravimetric analysis newline