Tensile properties of turmeric fibre reinforced polyester composites

Abstract

Turmeric fibre has been extracted from the stem and petiole of Tekurpeta and Cuddapha turmeric (<i>Curcuma longa</i>) and then used for the preparation of turmeric fibre reinforced polyester composites. For enhancing the bonding between fibre and matrix, one set of turmeric fibres is chemically treated with NaOH, KMnO₄ and H₂SO₄while another set is treated with only NaOH at varying chemical concentration and treatment time. The composites of Cuddapha turmeric stem fibre treated with 0.25 M NaOH for 13 h (CT-4 treatment) and Tekurpeta turmeric stem fibre treated with 0.125 M NaOH for 45 min, 0.01265 M KMnO₄ for 5 min and 0.0000075 H₂SO₄ for 5 min (CT-1 treatment) show the highest tensile strength (36.01 MPa) for CT-4 and tensile modulus (744.32 MPa) for CT-1. The density of the composites shows decreasing trend with the increase in volume fraction of fibre in all the cases; density of Cuddapha turmeric composites being 956.77 kg/m³the lowest among all the other composites studied at maximum volume fraction of fibre.