Tensile Properties Evaluation of Chemically Treated/Untreated Single Sugarcane Fiber

Natural fiber as a reinforcing constituent can play a dominant role in the field of fiber reinforced polymer composites (FRPC) due to its eco-friendliness, renewability, abundance in nature, co2-neutrality, flexibility, low density, and low cost. Hence, sugarcane fiber can be a potential candidate to replace the synthetic FRPC. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of chemical treatment on the tensile properties of single sugarcane fiber. Sugarcane collected from the local market was cut into some specific length and fibers were extracted from the juicy section. These fibers were then dried in an oven to remove the moisture. Surface modification was accomplished by performing alkali treatment and neutralizing by acetic acid solution. The fiber was then rinsed with water and dried at 80°C for about twenty four hours using an oven. Untreated and treated fibers were characterized using tensile testing according to the ASTM D 3822-01 standard. Optical microscopy (OM) was employed to measure the diameter of the fiber and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to evaluate the fracture morphology of failed samples. Tensile tests were carried out on the span length of 25 mm of the single fiber. The resultant data showed that maximum improvement in the tensile strength and modulus was observed to be 87% and 29%, respectively, compared to those of untreated ones due to chemical treatments using 5% NaOH solution and 2% acetic acid solution, respectively. Strain to maximum strength was enhanced by about 16% compared to that of the untreated one. A small initial weight loss was observed in the temperature ranging from 25 to 150 °C due to the evaporation of water. However, untreated fiber started to decompose at around 200 °C while treated fiber started to become decomposed at around 250°C. It might be due to the removal of non-cellulosic substances including hemicellulose, lignin, and pectin as a result of the chemical treatment. Fracture morphology of the treated fiber revealed rougher fracture surfaces compared to untreated fiber surfaces. This is an indication of more energy absorption by the treated fibers during the tensile loading.