Effect of Chemical Treatment on Tensile and Flexural Performance of Cyperus Pangorei Fibre Reinforced Polyester Composites

摘要

In this present study on effect of chemical treatment on tensile and flexural strength of Cyperus pangorei fibre (CPFs)/Polyester composites was carried out. The chemical treatment such as sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)_(2)) with various concentrationsof 5%, 10% and 15% of chemical agents for 1 hr was carried to modify the surface of CPFs. The untreated and chemically treated CPFs were used to fabricate the composites materials with 40 mm length at a loading of 40 wt% for studying the mechanical properties. The experimental results indicatedthat, the surface modified CPFs/Polyester did not offer better mechanical properties compared to untreated CPFs/Polyester due to the damage of fibre microstructure and fibre corrosion during chemical treatments. Among the various concentrations of NaOH and Ca(OH)_(2), the 10% NaOHand 15% Ca(OH)_(2) treated CPFs/Polyester slabs resulted better tensile and flexural strength compared to other concentrations of NaOH and Ca(OH)_(2).