Physical and thermal properties analysis of bamboo and rattan fiber reinforced polymer composite

Abstract

An extensive analysis on three distinct composite materials, namely Rattan Fiber Composite (RFC), Bamboo Fiber Composite (BFC), and Rattan/Bamboo Fiber Composite (RBFC), was conducted in this research. In scope of this investigation, water absorption (WA), swelling thickness (ST), density, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), thermal conductivity, and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) of the composites were analyzed and studied. Density differences between composites are evident, with RBFC having the highest density due to its low water absorption and inherent hydrophobicity, while BFC, with its high-water absorption, exhibits the lowest density. With the increase of immersion time of the composite the WA increases. In case of salt solution, the WA is lower than the distilled water (DW). In case of ST, the BFC shows the maximum amount of ST. Overall, the maximum WA, ST, and density was 17.23%, 13.92 % and 1.12 gm/cm3 for BFC, BFC and RBFC respectively. The results of the Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) analysis provided evidence of the existence of hemicellulose, cellulose, lignin, and hydroxyl (-OH) groups in RBFC. RBFC shows maximum decomposition rate with 2.42 and 6.11 mg/min at 358 and 414 °C respectively. The maximum thermal conductivity was observed at RBFC with 0.266 W/m.K.

Keywords

• Rattan fiber
• Bamboo fiber
• Physical properties
• FTIR
• Thermal analysis