Study of Mechanical Properties of Bamboo fibers before and after Alkali Treatment

摘要

The objective of the present work is to study the physical, mechanical and water absorption behaviour of bamboo fiber reinforced epoxy composites filled with rice husk particulates. Bamboo fibers have been previously treated with various concentration of NaOH (1%, 2%, 3% and 4%) for 12 hours. The poor adhesion between fiber and matrix is commonly encountered problem in natural-fiber-reinforced composites. To overcome this problem, specific physical and chemical treatments were suggested for surface modification of fibers by investigators. Alkali treatment is one of the simple and effective surface modification technique which is widely used in natural fiber composites. The alkali treatment is found to be effective in improving the tensile and flexural properties while the impact strength decreases. Water absorption capacity also decreases after alkali treatment. However the variation of mechanical properties depends on the concentration of NaOH solution and immersion time of the fiber in NaOH solution.