Characterization of Modified Bagasse and Investigation Properties of Its Novel Composite

Abstract

Bagasse was modified with sodium hydroxide and silane, and the obtained three polymer composite types, namely natural fiber, sugarcane bagasse, and plaster were procured by the two-roll mill method. The characterization of the modified sugarcane bagasse was achieved with attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The results show that the presence of Si–CH3 group occurred on the bagasse surface after chemical modification. Adhesion force of cellulose changes after chemical treatment was observed from AFM. The optimum cure time (tc90) and torque of the natural fiber/plaster increased with increasing plaster loading in the composite. The modulus of the resulting composite increased with both plaster and bagasse but the tensile strength and elongation-at-break of the composite decreased as a function of plaster sugarcane bagasse. The polymer composite possesses the best properties at 5 part per hundred rubber (phr) bagasse loading and 30 phr plaster.