A comprehensive study on characterization of Thespesia populnea bark fiber and its reinforcement effect on epoxy composites

Abstract

The upsurge in usage of manmade polymers synthesized from the by-products of petroleum resource is primarily responsible for the increase in environmentally hazardous and energy crisis of the planet. In account of this, several researchers started to work on finding alternatives for these materials with eco-friendly substitutes from natural resources. Noticeably, all the plants and trees are filled with semi-crystalline biopolymer called cellulose in abundance and they produce roughly around 1011 to 1012 tons of cellulose per year. In farming, these fiber-rich sources are either buried or burnt in the field due to lack of awareness in waste management strategies. Cellulose can be extracted from these resources in the form of fibers, fibrils or nanocrystals. In the rural area, a wide range of lignocellulose sources like abaca, bamboo, banana, coir, flax, hemp, jute, kenaf, pineapple, ramie, sisal, and sugar palm are identified to extract cellulose fibers. However, the fibers identified and characterized to date are not sufficient to meet the growing demand by industries. Hence, this present study aims to characterize barks fibers of Thespesia populnea (TP) tree and explore its potential to reinforce with the polymer matrix. To the best of the authors knowledge, no attempt has been made to study the properties of TP bark fibers as on date. TP trees are famous for their medicinal uses and are commonly known as portia tree, Pacific rosewood tree, and Indian tulip tree. For the current study, the lignocellulose fibers were extracted from TP stalks of and#8776;20 mm diameter through water retting process. Microbial degradation helps to disintegrate the fiber strips from barks and then individual fibers were separated with the help of a needle. Finally, fibers were dried in a convective oven at 70°C to remove the excess moisture newline