%0 Journal Article
%T Effects of Alkaline Treatment on the Mechanical and Rheological Properties of Low-Density Polyethylene/Spartium junceum Flour Composites
%A S. Ikhlef
%A S. Nekkaa
%A M. Guessoum
%A N. Haddaoui
%J ISRN Polymer Science
%D 2012
%R 10.5402/2012/965101
%X The effects of Spartium junceum (SJ) flour content, treatment time, and temperature on the mechanical and rheological properties of low density polyethylene/Spartium junceum flour (LDPE/SJ) composites were studied. SJ flour was treated with NaOH (5% wt) for 24, 48, and 72£¿h at 25¡ãC and 40¡ãC. FTIR results showed that there is a partial removal of lignin and hemicelluloses after treatment which improved the interfacial adhesion matrix/SJ flour. Also, the alkaline treatment improved notably the tensile strength and Young's modulus and increased slightly the elongation at break of LDPE/SJ composites compared to those with untreated flour. 1. Introduction Natural organic fibers from renewable natural resources offer the potential to act as biodegradable reinforcing materials as an alternative for the use of glass or carbon fiber and inorganic fillers [1, 2]. These fibers offer several advantages including high specific strength and modulus, low cost, low-density, renewable nature, biodegradability, absence of associated health hazards, easy fiber surface modification, and wide availability [3]. But, the main drawbacks of such composites are their water sensitivity, their relatively poor dimensional stability, the changing of fiber characteristics with origin, poor adhesion to basically all matrix polymers, and poor processability at high fiber contents. Much work has been done on virgin thermoplastic and natural fiber composites, which have successfully proven their applicability to various fields of technical applications, especially for load-bearing application. Indeed, thermoplastics, such as polyethylene (PE) [4, 5], polypropylene (PP) [6¨C9], polyvinyl chloride (PVC) [10], and polystyrene (PS) [11], have been compounded with natural fibers (such as wood, kenaf, flax, hemp, cotton, sisal, jute, abaca, etc.) to prepare composites. Nekkaa et al. [12] reported that the use of silane Z-6020 for SJ fibers modification improves the dynamic mechanical properties of PP/SJ fibers composites. Also, the results of water absorption showed that silane treatment reduced the water absorption capacity compared to untreated composites. The absorption of water by PP/SJ fibers composites approaches the kinetics of a Fickian diffusion case I at ambient temperature [13]. The alkaline treatment is also another method to treat vegetable fibers to increase the contact fiber matrix and thus their adhesion to each other. So, the aim of this work is to study the effects of untreated and treated Spartium junceum flour content as well as the time and the temperature of flour surface
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn.polymer.science/2012/965101/