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The influence of chemical treatment on the mechanical properties of windmill palm fiber

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Abstract

Bleached palm fiber without lignin, alkalized palm fiber without hemicelluloses and raw windmill palm fiber were prepared. Then, the chemical composition and the mechanical properties of the windmill palm fiber were investigated. Scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Raman microscopy were employed to characterize the structure and chemical composition. A universal material tester, nanoindentation and dynamic mechanical analysis were used to study the mechanical property of these samples. According to the results, bleach treatment removed most of the silica bodies as well as the lignin, smoothed the fiber surfaces and increased the hollowness to 50%. Alkali treatment removed most of the hemicelluloses, increased the surface roughness, and reduced the hollowness to 28%. Alkalized fibers have the highest tensile strength, elongation at break and elastic modulus, with values of 119.37 ± 27.21 MPa, 30.58 ± 5.87% and 10.75 ± 4.30 GPa, respectively. The raw material without treatment has the highest stiffness, while the alkalized samples are the most flexible fibers and sensitive to temperature.

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, China (No. 37 [2014]); and the Jiangsu Province Special Project, China (No. BY2014083).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Textile and Clothing Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215006, People’s Republic of China

    Changjie Chen, Guicui Chen, Xin Li, Hongyun Guo & Guohe Wang

  2. Nantong Textile Institute of Soochow University, Nantong, 226108, People’s Republic of China

    Changjie Chen, Guicui Chen, Xin Li, Hongyun Guo & Guohe Wang

  3. Jiangsu Research and Development Center of the Ecological Textile Engineering and Technology, Yancheng Institute of Industry Technology, Yancheng, 224005, People’s Republic of China

    Guicui Chen

  4. Nantong Textile and Silk Industrial Technology Research Institute, Nantong, 226108, People’s Republic of China

    Guohe Wang

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  1. Changjie Chen
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  2. Guicui Chen
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  3. Xin Li
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  4. Hongyun Guo
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Correspondence to Guohe Wang.

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Chen, C., Chen, G., Li, X. et al. The influence of chemical treatment on the mechanical properties of windmill palm fiber. Cellulose 24, 1611–1620 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-017-1205-1

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