Improving hydrophobicity and compatibility between kenaf fiber and polymer composite by surface treatment with inorganic nanoparticles

• Main Authors: Mohammed, Mohammed, Rahman, Rozyanty, Mohammed, Aeshah M., Betar, Bashir O., Osman, Azlin F., Adam, Tijjani, Dahham, Omar S., Gopinath, Subash C. B.
• Format: Article
• Published: Elsevier 2022
• Subjects: QD Chemistry
• Online Access: http://eprints.um.edu.my/41098/

Compatibility of natural fiber with hydrophobic matrix is a herculean task in literature works. Surface treatment is a well-known approach for increasing the strength of interfacial adhe-sion between fibres and polymer matrices. Therefore, this study aims to examine the impact of sur-face treatment with zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) in improving hydrophobicity of kenaf fiber (KF) to enhance the compatibility between KF and polymer matrix. In this study, KF reinforced unsaturated polyester composites (KF/UPE) were fabricated by the hand lay-up method with vary-ing fiber loadings (wt %) of 10 20, 30, and 40. KF were treated with five different contents of ZnONPs (1% to 5 wt%) to make UPE/KF-ZnONPs composites. The composites were studied in terms of wetting response (contact angle measure and water absorption), mechanical properties, chemical structure (FTIR), crystalline structure (XRD), and surface morphology (SEM, AFM). The investigational findings indicate that the composite samples incorporating ZnONPs exhibit optimum hydrophobicity and mechanical properties, as they possessed a higher contact angle than the untreated KF composite. The optimum content of ZnONPs was found to be 2 wt%. Regarding water absorption, the untreated UPE/KF composites absorbed more water than the treated UPE/ KF-ZnONPs composites. SEM images showed changes in the morphology of the KF, while FTIR analysis proved the presence of ZnONPs functional groups in the UPE/KF composites. AFM images revealed that the ZnONPs could actively produce nanolevel roughness, advantageous to the hydrophobic characteristics.(c) 2022 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).