Effect of Chemically Treated Kenaf Fibre on Mechanical and Thermal Properties of PLA Composites Prepared through Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM)

Natural fibre as a reinforcing agent has been widely used in many industries in this era. However, the reinforcing agent devotes a better strength when embedded with a polymer matrix. Nevertheless, the characteristic of natural fibre and polymer matrix are in contrast, as natural fibre is hydrophilic, while polymer is hydrophobic in nature. Natural fibre is highly hydrophilic due to the presence of a hydroxyl group (-OH), while polymer matrix has an inherent hydrophobic characteristic which repels water. This issue has been fixed by modifying the natural fibre’s surface using a chemical treatment combining an alkaline treatment and a silane coupling agent. This modifying process of natural fibre might reduce the attraction of water and moisture content and increase natural fibre surface roughness, which improves the interfacial bonding between these two phases. In this paper, the effect of alkaline and silane treatment has been proven by performing the mechanical test, Scanning Electron Micrograph (SEM), and Fourier Transform Infrared spectrometry (FTIR) to observe the surface structure. The chemical compositions and thermal properties of the composites have been obtained by performing Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) tests. 1.0% silane treatment displayed better strength performance as compared to other composites, which was proven by performing Scanning Electron Micrograph (SEM). The assumption is that by enduring chemical treatment, kenaf fibre composites could develop high performance in industry applications.