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Treatment of Harakeke fiber for biocomposites
Author(s) -
Duchemin Benoît,
Staiger Mark P.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.29863
Subject(s) - materials science , cellulose , lignin , fiber , fourier transform infrared spectroscopy , cellulose fiber , composite material , scanning electron microscope , whiskers , thermal treatment , natural fiber , thermal analysis , thermal , chemical engineering , chemistry , organic chemistry , physics , meteorology , engineering
The use of fiber from Harakeke (or New Zealand Flax plant) for the reinforcement of composites should be explored since Harakeke has similar properties to Sisal fiber. To maximize the cellulose content in the fiber, Harakeke fibers were prepared by thermal, combinative alkaline‐thermal, and a novel combinative thermal‐enzymatic‐thermal treatments and characterized by scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and wide‐angle X‐ray spectroscopy. The characterization method provided an efficient and systematic method to evaluate the removal of amorphous components such as lignin and hemicelluloses. In particular, a sequential thermal‐enzymatic‐thermal fiber treatment produced fine discontinuous whiskers that could be useful for short fiber composites, whereas a combinative thermal‐alkaline treatment resulted in thorough extraction of lignin and hemicelluloses. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009