Effect of alkali pre-treatment of jute on the formation of jute-based carbon fibers

In the present study, the effect of alkali pre-treatment of jute on the formation of jute-based carbon fibers was investigated. Jute fibers were pre-treated at various NaOH concentrations and then carbonized at 700 degrees C. It was noticeable that the morphology of jute-based carbon fiber was distinctly changed in the case of NaOH pre-treatment at 10 wt.%, exhibiting the dense cross-section that the cells in raw jute fiber completely disappeared after carbonization. Also, the weight loss and thermal shrinkage, and ATR-FTIR and Raman spectra were compared between the untreated and pre-treated jute and jute-based carbon fibers. It was concluded that the pre-treatment with 10 wt.% NaOH done to raw jute fibers played a positive role in the formation of jute-based carbon fibers. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.