Alkali Treatment Influence on Characterization of Setaria Italic (Foxtail Millet) Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composites Using Vacuum Bagging

Abstract

Natural fiber polymer composites have broad interest in recent times due to low cost and superior mechanical properties. The present study deals with Setaria italic (Foxtail millet) fiber reinforced Lapox L-12 resin polymer composite fabricated by vacuum bagging method. The work examined the differences of NaOH alkali-treated (5% and 10% concentration) and untreated fibers with different weight ratios (10%, 15%, and 20%) of fibers. Mechanical properties of the prepared discrete polymer composite materials were analyzed. The alkali treatment behavior of Setaria italic fiber was analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). An increase in 35.1%, 8.6%, and 6% for tensile, flexural, and impact strength, respectively, were observed for 20 wt% reinforced composites with 10% NaOH treatment when compared to untreated composites. From TGA, it was concluded that residue content of the samples were observed to be 15%, 10%, and 7% for untreated, 5% NaOH-treated and 10% NaOH-treated samples, respectively. Based on the acquired results, it was concluded that alkali-treated Setaria italic (Foxtail millet) fiber reinforced epoxy composites can be a resourceful substitute in construction and building applications.

Keywords

• setaria italic
• vacuum bagging
• tga
• sem
• ftir
• mechanical properties