Dynamic Mechanical and Morphological Characterization of Treated <i>Prosopis africana</i> Wood fiber Reinforced Polyvinyl Chloride Composites

Abstract

In this work, the effect of Prosopis africana (PA) on the viscoelastic properties of PVC composites was examined using the dynamic  mechanical analysis technique and scanning electron microscopy to ascertain the interaction of the PVC and the PA fibre. In order to  improve adhesion between the hydrophilic natural fiber and the hydrophobic plastic matrix, the PA fiber was treated with a sodium  hydroxide solution. The amount of fiber loading ranged from 0, 4, 8, 12, 16, 20 to 24, but the bulk of this work considered 12% wt  composition because it correlates to higher mechanical properties. This work was carried out to further investigate the dynamic mechanical and morphological properties of the composite sample with the optimum properties (12% wt composition). When compared  to unreinforced polyvinyl chloride, the dynamic mechanical characteristics such as storage modulus and damping all significantly  improved: Storage modulus (4.0 GPa) compared to (1.8 GPa) of unreinforced PVC while the loss modulus decreased; indicating an  improvement of PVC. Scanning electron micrograph of treated PA reinforced PVC composites showed fairly uniformly filled PVC (at 12 %  wt) with less voids and fiber agglomeration. This indicates that the dynamic mechanical and morphological properties of PVC could be  enhanced by the incorporation of treated PA fibres.