title: Properties of cellulose/Thespesia lampas short fibers bio-composite films.
abstract: Cellulose was dissolved in pre cooled environment friendly solvent (aq.7% sodium hydroxide+12% urea) and regenerated with 5%H2SO4 as coagulation bath. Using cellulose as matrix and alkali treated short natural fibers extracted from the newly identified Thespesia lampas plant as fillers the green composite films were prepared. The films were found to be non toxic. The effect of fiber loading on the tensile properties and thermal stability was studied. The fractographs indicated better interfacial bonding between the fibers and cellulose. The crystallinity of the composite films was found to be lower than the matrix and decreased with increasing fiber content. In spite of better interfacial bonding, the tensile properties of the composites were found to be lower than those of the matrix and decreased with increasing fiber content and this behavior was attributed to the random orientation of the fibers in the composites. The thermal stability of the composite films was higher than the matrix and increased with fiber content.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Osmania University, Hyderabad 500007, India.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ashok
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering Technology, Doornfontein Campus, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa. Electronic address: obireddyk80@gmail.com.
authors.forename: K Obi
authors.initials: KO
authors.lastname: Reddy
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Osmania University, Hyderabad 500007, India.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Madhukar
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Osmania University, Hyderabad 500007, India.
authors.forename: A Varada
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Rajulu
mesh_terms: D063566:Biodegradable Plastics / Q000737:chemistry*; D002482:Cellulose / Q000737:chemistry*; D019660:Malvaceae / Q000737:chemistry*; D012972:Sodium Hydroxide / Q000737:chemistry; D013718:Tensile Strength; D014508:Urea / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D063566:Biodegradable Plastics; D012972:Sodium Hydroxide; D014508:Urea; D002482:Cellulose
keywords: Films; Regenerated cellulose; Structural analysis; Tensile properties; Thermal analysis