Investigation of Physico Chemical Properties and Characterization of New Natural Cellulosic Fibers from the Bark of Ficus Racemosa

Abstract

The objective of this examination is to characterize the fibers from the bark of Ficus racemosa fibers (FRF). FRF is composed of cellulose (72.36 wt. %), hemicellulose (11.21wt. %), lignin (10.45 wt. %), and has a density of 895 Kg/m3. The Differential thermogravimetry (DTG) shows that the maximum degradation peak temperature was attained at 310.56°C. The presence of a chemical group in the fibers was revealed through Fourier transform (FT-IR) analysis. The crystalline structure was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD). For surface morphology, Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Atomic force microscopy (AFM) were used. The obtained results indicated that FRFs are suitable fibers for polymer composite as reinforcement.

Keywords

• ficus racemosa fibers
• chemical composition
• tga/dtg
• ft-ir
• xrd
• sem
• afm