Investigation of physical, chemical and mechanical properties of raw and alkali treated Borassus fruit fiber

The natural fibers nowadays play a major role as reinforcement in composites due to their important properties like lightweight, biodegradability and non-toxicity. Borassus fruit fiber is one such type possessing high cellulose which is inexpensive and available in plenty. The Borassus fruit fibers were extracted and its physical, chemical and mechanical properties such as density, diameter, cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, wax, denier, tenacity and tensile force were experimentally determined. In this study, the Borassus fruit fibers were treated with 5%, 10% and 15% NaOH and the effect of alkali treatments on the fiber properties were explored. It is interesting to note that 5% NaOH treatment yielded significant improvement in tensile properties of the fibers than the others. The Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometry (FT-IR) analysis was made to identify the chemical compounds of the raw and alkali treated fibers. The morphological study on raw and alkali treated fibers by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) revealed the existence of the impurities on the raw fiber surface and the removal of the same on the treated fibers. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.