Characterization of raw and alkali treated new natural cellulosic fibres extracted from the aerial roots of banyan tree

• Published in: International journal of biological macromolecules 2019-10, Vol.138, p.573-581
• Main Authors: Ganapathy, T., Sathiskumar, R., Senthamaraikannan, P., Saravanakumar, S.S., Khan, Anish
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aerial Root Banyan Fibres (ARBFs); Alkali treatment; Alkalies - chemistry; Cellulose - chemistry; Cellulose - ultrastructure; Chemical functional groups; Crystallinity index; Ficus - chemistry; Plant Roots - chemistry; Spectrum Analysis; Surface roughness; Tensile Strength; Thermal stability; Thermogravimetry; Trees - chemistry
• ISSN: 0141-8130; 1879-0003
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2019.07.136

The objective of this investigation is to check the suitability novel cellulosic fibre extracted from the aerial roots of Banyan tree (ARBFs) as reinforcement in fibre reinforced plastics. The Fundamental properties of ARBFs such as density, tensile strength, chemical composition, crystallinity index, crystalline size, thermal stability, maximum degradation temperature and surface roughness were studied. The chemical analysis results revealed that after the alkalization cellulose content was improved while hemi-cellulose, lignin and wax content were demised. The enhancement in the crystallinity index (76.35% from 72.47%) and crystalline size (7.74 nm from 6.28 nm) of alkali treated ARBFs were evidenced by the X-ray diffraction analysis. Thermal analysis results confirmed that maximum degradation temperature (368 °C) and kinetic activation energy (75.45 kJ/mol) of alkali treated ARBFs had increased from 358 °C and 72.65 kJ/mol respectively. The results of scanning electron microscopic and atomic force microscopic analysis exhibited that impurities and wax on the outer surface of the ARBFs were removed after the alkali treatment. All the above finding concluded that ARBFs is the appropriate material to use as a reinforcement in fibre reinforced plastics. •A new natural cellulosic fibres extracted from aerial roots of banyan tree (ARBFs) were characterized in this work.•Effects of NaOH treatment on chemical, thermal, crystalline, tensile properties of ARBFs were studied.•Low density of raw (1234 kg/m3) and alkali treated ARBFs (1269 kg/m3) promote the light weight applications.•Raw (19.37 ± 7.72 MPa) and alkali treated ARBFs (20.45 ± 12.20 MPa) have better tensile strength.