Bamboo Fibers Reinforced with Bauxite Red Mud and MAPE/HDPE: Physico-Mechanical and Thermal Properties from Thermal Insulator in Textile Material

Research Article

Adv Res Text Eng. 2024; 9(1): 1095.

Bamboo Fibers Reinforced with Bauxite Red Mud and MAPE/HDPE: Physico-Mechanical and Thermal Properties from Thermal Insulator in Textile Material

George Elambo Nkeng1; Jeanne Atchana2; Chrisidel Chanceline Ndjeumi3; Paul Nestor Djomou Djonga4*

1Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University of Padova, Via Francesco Marzolo, Italy

2Department of Chemical Engineering, ENSET, University of Douala, Cameroon

3Department of Environmental Science, National Advanced School of Engineering of Maroua, University of Maroua, Cameroon

4Department of Textile and Leather Engineering, National Advanced School of Engineering of Maroua, University of Maroua, Cameroon

*Corresponding author: Paul Nestor Djomou Djonga Department of Textile and Leather Engineering, National Advanced School of Engineering of Maroua, University of Maroua, PO Box 46 Maroua, Cameroon. Email: djomoupaul@gmail.com

Received: January 17, 2024 Accepted: February 17, 2024 Published: February 24, 2024

Abstract

The modern, dynamic world can’t imagine its development without carrying the concept of advancement in composite materials. Various researches are going on in this field to achieve the desired standard. Natural Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composite (NFPC) has a huge affinity to interchange the composite made up of synthetic fiber. This is primarily because of the advantages like light-weight, non-toxic, non abrasive, easy availability, low cost and biodegradable properties. The specific mechanical properties like specific tensile modulus and other specific properties of natural fiber gives a satisfying result for compos ites as compared to synthetic fiber based composites. The general objective of this work was to develop a composite from bamboo fibers and HDPE reinforced with red bauxite mud residues to ensure good thermal stability and improve the physico-mechanical properties in traction and flexion. he morphology of the composites showed that there was a homogenous dispersion of BF at lower weight fraction, although fi bre agglomeration was noticed at higher weight fraction. The results of this study revealed that treated bamboo fi bres are suitable for reinforcing HDPE. It appears from these studies that the formulations produced are in accordance with the ASTM standard and can validly be used for the thermal comfort of buildings to improve the comfort of the population in sustainable habitats.

Keywords: Bamboo fibers; Composite material; HDPE; Bauxite red mud and MAPE

Introduction

A strong increase in environmental concerns has arisen in the last years. This fact, together with the continuous increase in petroleum prices and the overall depletion of fossil fuels, has encouraged researchers to develop new environ mentally friendly materials. One of the engineering fields that have expe rienced a more valuable growth is that related to composite materials with natu ral fillers/reinforcements such as natural fiber reinforced plastics [14]. Natural-Fiber-reinforced Polymer composite (NFP) is a composite material that is combined with natural fiber and polymer. Composite structures are generally a combination of two or more materials at the macroscopic level and both are insoluble. The natural fiber is a reinforcement material embedded in a polymer (matrix) where the polymer has two types of classes, namely thermoplastic and thermoset [1-3]. Over the past few decades, what can be seen around us is the production of a wide range of products that use natural f iber-reinforced polymer composites. This composite is one of the alternatives to produce environmentally friendly materials by combining polymers and natural fibers for use in various products applications [1,4,6]. The use of these natural fibers has a high impact on the manufacturing industry as these materials are readily available, low-cost, and easy to design and increase productivity. Nowadays, the use of petroleum-based plastics in human daily activities is increas ing [6]. With the increasing use of plastics among us, plastic disposal has become a major issue of environmental pollution, and, in addition, limited fossil fuel resources make manyresearchers look for alternative methods to reduce the use of petroleum-based ma trices [6]. Therefore, the solution to this problem is to combine both materials using polymers and natural fibers. Furthermore, the use of natural resources material is to reduce the abundance of waste and prevent open burning by farmers leading to air pollution [1]. Thus, the nature of awareness of environmental issues to the world community nowadays is increasing. This increase in awareness occurs when global warming occurs in the world, and when loss of biodiversity and garbage disposal problems occur around them. Therefore, various activities have been held among them, such as recycling programs, segregation of waste by type, and use of natural product materials. Natural-fiber-reinforced composite fibers are one of the alternatives to reduce envi ronmental problems, and there is a need to further enhance the capabilities of this green technology. Natural fiber composites are in high demand in manufacturing indus tries, such as transmission tower, automotive, construction, aerospace, as well as furniture and packaging. One of the natural resources emphasized is bamboo trees. Nowadays, many researchers have studied bamboo to be extracted into fiber and made this fiber a reinforced material in the polymer matrix. The selection of bamboo as a reinforcement is due to its good mechanical and thermal properties, extraction and fiber treatment, low cost, environment friendly nature, and ability to be used as a product in the industry. Bamboo fiber is identified to have strength and stiffness, and it contains microfibrillar angles and thick cell walls that are considered nature glass fiber [1,7].

Previous research has shown that Bamboo Pulp Fiber (BPF) and White Mud (WM) significantly improved the mechanical properties of polymer composites (Yu Xian et al.,2018). Bamboo Residue Fiber (BRF) reinforced High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) caused the increase of tensile and flexural properties, but BRF-reinforced HDPE had lower impact strength [8,9]. For this reason, BPF and WM are used to improve the mechanical properties of Bamboo Plastic Composites (BPCs). Due to cost always being an important criterion that can restrict the development of a technology, this means that any new material or method developed takes this into account, which is a load of BRF and WM used can be used to reduce costs. Therefore, BPF and WM were used to reinforce BPCs that were manufactured using extrusion technology in this paper. The effect of BPF and WM loading on the flexural, tensile and impact properties were investigated with the macro test, the difference in the fracture toughness of BPCs was also studied by means of the EWF method based on the Charpy impact test results.

Materials and Methods

Materials and Preparation

Chemical Extraction of Bamboo: The chemical extraction methods such as chemical retting and alkali or acid retting are used to remove or reduce the lignin content from the fibres. These chemical extraction methods also have effects on other fibre components such as pectin and hemicelluloses [12]. The method of extracting bamboo fibers initially harvested in the town of Bagangte in the West Cameroon region and transported to the laboratory is described by Kumar et al., (2010). In this procedure, bamboo culm without any nodes was cut into strips and then soaked in water for 24 hours. Then those drenched strips were cut into smaller pieces with a knife. In chemical procedure after removing the bamboo nodes the internodes are sliced into the defined dimensions. Bamboo strips with the size of chips was soaked in 4% mass over volume of NaOH for 2 hours to influence on cellulosic and non-cellulosic parts. This method was repeated several time under a certain pressure for extracting fibre in the form of pulp. Bamboo chips were dried for 30min at 150°C and dipped in water at 60°C for 24 hours and then dried in air. Later, the fibres were washed with hot water and then treated with xylanase. After, cooking and bleaching bamboo fibres, they were treated in sulphuric acid solution. The size of obtained fibre was 2.5mm. In order to produce a long fibre some cell parts of the plant such as pectin and lignin were needed to be connected [11].

High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) was purchased from OK Plast Plastic Company Ltd. (Douala, Cameroon). Its density is 0.945g/cm3 (DGDK-3364), and melting mass flow rate is 0.75g/10 min (190°C, 2.16kg). Maleic Anhydride grafted Polyethylene (MAPE), used as interfacial compatibilizer, was utilized to improve the compatibility between the polymer matrix and wood fiber [14] and bauxite red mud used in this work was produce by the process describe by [14].

Fibers

Bamboo fiber was used as primary reinforcement material. Composite samples were fabricated using hand lay-up method followed by compression. The samples were prepared as per ASTM standards for testing. Tensile test was performed as per ASTM D638 standard with a test speed of 2 mm/min. Flexural test and Impact test were performed by ASTM D790 and ASTM D256, respectively (ASTM,1995).

Materials Used

The materials that are used in the present study and the methods by which these materials are processed. The materials that are used in the present concern of study are 1. Epoxy Resin, 2. Bamboo Fiber and 3. Hardener.

Fabrication Methods

Hand Layup is the simplest polymer processing techniques. Fibers can be laid onto a mold by hand and the resin (unsaturated polyester, epoxy resin are the most common) is sprayed or brushed on. Frequently, resin and fibers (chopped) are sprayed together onto the mold surface. In both cases, the deposited layers are den sified with rollers. Accelerators and catalysts are frequently used. Curing may be done at room temperature. The desired fish scale powder and epoxy were mixed in a container and stirred well for 5–7 min. After adding the hardener, the mixture was again stirred for 10 min to obtain homogeneous mixture. Before the mixture was placed inside the glass mould (120mm 120mm 4mm), the mould has initially been polished with a release agent to pre vent the composites from sticking onto it upon removal. Finally, the mixture was poured into the mould and left at room tempera ture for 24 h until the mixture was hardened. To investigate the mechanical and physical properties of composites, the samples were fabricated with various PSP loadings (10 to 35 wt%) When the composite was hardened, it was removed from the mould and placed inside an oven for 12 h at 40°C for curing. The tensile, flexural and impact specimens were cut from the prepared composite sheets according to ASTM standards. The following steps are used to fabricate the composites. In the first step, the raw materials were mixed according to the formulations listed in Table 1. (i) Placing the bottom mould plate with silicon rubber, (ii) Adding catalyst, accelerator, promoter to resin, (iii) Mixing resin to the fiber and (iv) Closing with the top mould plate.