Improvement in mechanical properties of jute fibres through mild alkali treatment as demonstrated by utilisation of the Weibull distribution model.
Chemically modified jute fibres are potentially useful as natural reinforcement in composite materials. Jute fibres were treated with 0.25%-1.0% sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution for 0.5-48 h. The hydrophilicity, surface morphology, crystallinity index, thermal and mechanical characteristics of untreated and alkali treated fibres were studied.The two-parameter Weibull distribution model was applied to deal with the variation in mechanical properties of the natural fibres. Alkali treatment enhanced the tensile strength and elongation at break by 82% and 45%, respectively but decreased the hydrophilicity by 50.5% and the diameter of the fibres by 37%.
Materials Science Centre, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, West Bengal 721302, India.
Aparna
A
Roy
Sumit
S
Chakraborty
Sarada Prasad
SP
Kundu
Ratan Kumar
RK
Basak
Subhasish Basu
SB
Majumder
Basudam
B
Adhikari
D000468:Alkalies / Q000737:chemistry*; D002152:Calorimetry, Differential Scanning; D003460:Crystallization; D008031:Lignin / Q000737:chemistry*; D015233:Models, Statistical; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D013499:Surface Properties; D013818:Thermogravimetry; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
D000468:Alkalies; C036909:lignocellulose; D008031:Lignin