Influence of fiber treatment on dimensional stabilities of rattan waste composite boards
The main drawback of using natural fibers in composite boards is its hydrophilic properties which absorb a high volume of moisture. This results in low dimensional stability of the produced composite boards. Hence, the purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of fibers’ treatment proce...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Conference or Workshop Item |
| Language: | English English English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing Ltd.
2018
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://irep.iium.edu.my/63711/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/63711/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/63711/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/63711/1/2017%20-%20%20IOP%20Conference%20Series%20-%20Influence%20of%20Fiber%20Treatment%20on%20Dimensional%20Stabilities%20of%20RW%20Composite%20Boards.pdf http://irep.iium.edu.my/63711/7/63711_Influence%20of%20fiber%20treatment%20on%20dimensional_scopus.pdf http://irep.iium.edu.my/63711/13/63711_Influence%20of%20fiber%20treatment%20on%20dimensional_WoS.pdf |
| Summary: | The main drawback of using natural fibers in composite boards is its
hydrophilic properties which absorb a high volume of moisture. This results in low
dimensional stability of the produced composite boards. Hence, the purpose of this
study is to investigate the effects of fibers’ treatment processes of the rattan waste
fibers on the dimensional stabilities of composite boards. The collected fibers
underwent two types of retting processes, namely a water treatment and alkaline
treatment retting processes; where the fibers were soaked in water and a 1% sodium
hydroxide (NaOH) solution, respectively. The fibers were dried and mixed with
poly(lactic) acid (PLA) pellets with ratio of 30% fibers: 70% matrix; before being
fabricated into composite boards via a hot-pressing process and were labelled as
RF/PLA, WRF/PLA, CRF/PLA for untreated rattan, rattan treated by water retting,
rattan treated by chemical retting, respectively. The produced composite boards were
cut and soaked in water for 24 hours for dimensional stability in terms of water
absorption and thickness swelling tests. The results showed that WRF/PLA has the
lowest water absorption (3.2%), and the CRF/PLA had the highest water absorption
(23.2%). The thickness swelling showed a similar trend as water absorption. The
presence of void contents and fibers damaged the insides of the boards, which
contributed to low dimensional stabilities of the composite boards. It can be concluded
that water retting facilitated in improving dimensional stability of the produced
composite board. |
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