Thermal analysis of cellulosic stalk (stem) fiber from the ornamental Allamanda Blanchetii plant for commercial exploitations

Abstract

In the wake of economic eco-friendly materials there is increasing demand to substitute synthetic fibers with vegetable fibers of plant origin for various applications. Here a ligno-cellulosic stalk (stem) fiber from the ornamental Allamanda Blanchetii (AMB) plant was extracted by manual scutching and hackling and purified by defatting, scouring and hydrogen peroxide bleaching. The fiber was characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy, and simultaneous thermogravimetry (TG) and differential thermal analysis taking the raw cotton as reference. FT-IR spectrum of crude AMB fiber displayed absorption frequencies common to those of ligno-cellulosic fibers, and that of the treated fiber indicated the removal of hemicellulose and lignin. Onset temperatures for the major degradation steps of the raw AMB and cotton fibers revealed nearly equal thermal stability for them, and both of them degraded exothermically under N2. The silky white flexible treated AMB fiber (density < 1 g/cc) degraded endothermically under N2 and was thermally more stable than the crude AMB fiber. The observed thermal characteristics of the treated AMB fiber implied that it can be exploited for the production of textiles, composites and activated/conductive carbon.

Keywords

• Allamanda Blanchetii
• Cellulosic stalk fiber
• Thermogravimetry
• Differential thermal analysis
• FT-IR spectroscopy
• Hemicellulose