Improved Strength Of Sugarcane Bagasse Fibers-Polypropylene Composite Using Alkali Treated Fibres

Anggono, Juliana and Sugondo, Suwandi and PURWANINGSIH, HARIYATI and HENRICO, STEVEN (2015) Improved Strength Of Sugarcane Bagasse Fibers-Polypropylene Composite Using Alkali Treated Fibres. In: The 2nd International Conference on Materials and Metallurgical Technology 2015 (ICOMMET 2015) , 11-12-2015 - 11-12-2015, - .

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Abstract

Sugarcane is one of the main agricultural products in Indonesia after palm oil, coconut, and rubber. Bagasse fibres are produced from the milled sugarcane stalks. These fibres are considered as byproduct and has little value. These natural fibres are strong, lightweight, and offer benefits in reductions in cost, CO2, less reliance on oil sources and recyclability. They have been investigated and identified as potential reinforcement to replace synthetic fibres such as glass and carbon fibres. In this present work, bagasse composites using polypropylene (PP) matrix were developed. Alkali treatment on bagasse fibres using 14% v/v Ca(OH)2 was applied and the strength of the composites was evaluated as the effects of the soaking time during alkali treatment and the quantity of bagasse fibres used. Alkali treatment for 4 hours can increase the tensile strength 13.53% to 42.17% compared to the strength of composites using untreated fibers (7.73 MPa). Strength values of 11.06 MPa, 13.13 MPa, and 8.04 MPa were obtained for ratios of weight % bagasse fibers/PP of 20/80, 25/75, 30/70, respectively. On treatment for 2 hours, tensile strength of the composites increased to 10.12 MPa (from 8.04 MPa using untreated fibers). Adding the treatment time to 6 hours caused a strength increase from 7 to 11.08 MPa. Scanning electron micrographs obtained from the fracture surfaces were used for a qualitative evaluation of the interfacial properties of bagasse/PP and comparison were made between treated and untreated fibers on the interfacial properties. An increase in strength was obtained when treated bagasse fibres were used as reinforcement in the composite. SEM images show that the dissolution occurs on the surface of which is supported by the data of the weight loss of 24.6% -46.31% of the initial weight.

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