Effect of alkaline treatment on the characterization of zalacca midrib wastes fibers

Nowadays, the need for new materials is urgent due to the scarcity of conventional materials and energy resources. The environmental issue requires materials which are biodegradable. There are many composites, arranged from synthetic fibers and matrix, which cannot be recyclable after their lifetime. In this research, the utilization potency of zalacca midrib wastes for their fibers as composite reinforcement were investigated, especially after the alkaline treatment to improve their characteristics. The influence of alkaline treatment on the density, functional groups of the fiber surface, thermal stability and crystallinity were measured and/or analyzed by linear-density-and-diameter-calculation, FTIR, TGA-DTA and XRD, respectively. The result showed that the zalacca midrib fibers had lower density than synthetic fibers and several natural fibers. Analysis of FTIR spectra indicated that the alkaline treatment of NaOH slightly raised their density because it removed several functional groups which attributed to the hemicellulose and lignin. TGA-DTA analysis indicated that zalacca fibers had good thermal stability until temperature of 220°C and it was improved by alkaline treatment. XRD analysis showed that the crystallinity of zalacca fibers was higher than several natural fibers like rice straw, sorghum stem and wheat straw fibers. Their crystallinity index was higher than wheat straw fiber. The alkaline treatment increases the crystallinity and crystallinity index rather than untreated fibers.