Alkaline treatment and thermal properties of Napier grass fibres

Abstract

This paper presents an overview of a natural fibre, namely Pennisetum purpureum, which is commonly known as Napier grass. This paper’s intention is to analyse Napier grass fibre to assess the effect of alkaline treatment on the tensile properties, thermal stability, and morphology of the fibres. These fibres were extracted by a water retting process from the internodes of Napier stems. The fibres were later subjected to alkaline treatments with NaOH at 5, 10, 15 and 20% concentrations for a period of 24 h at 25°C (RT). The tensile strength, thermal stability and crystallinity of the fibres were seen to upsurge upon conducting the alkaline treatments. Thus, the experimental results demonstrate that the 10% NaOH concentration has the strongest tensile test compared to untreated Napier grass fibre. The surfaces of the fibres after the treatment were observed with a scanning electron microscope (SEM), TM-3000. SEM investigation showed that the surfaces of the fibres become rougher after NaOH treatment. Moreover, from XRD, the amount of crystallinity is also higher in the 10% alkaline treated fibres, and DSC thermograms proved that they have better thermal stability. From this study, Napier grass fibres show potential to be used as reinforcing fibres in composite structures.