Nano-clay treatment of jute fiber for reinforcement in polymer composites: Mechanical, morphological, and thermo-kinetic analysis

Natural fibers have demonstrated exceptional properties that can be utilized as a viable and environmentally reliable material for reinforcement in polymer composites replacing their synthetic counterparts creating numerous environmental problems. Jute fiber is a prominent natural fiber that has been successfully applied for manufacturing noble natural fiber-based composites. This article describes the advantages and comparison between two surface treatment techniques that is alkali treatment and nano-clay treatment of jute fiber to enhance the properties for producing improved composite material. FTIR, SEM, AFM, and TGA have been utilized to compare and study how different surface treatment methods affect jute fiber. Isoconversional methods FWO and KAS are applied for the thermos-kinetic analysis and evaluation of activation energy of thermal decomposition. More than 30% increase in peak activation energy has been observed (120 KJ/mole to 160 KJ/mol). Alkali-nano-clay treated jute fiber exhibits nearly 32% improvement (405 MPa to 535 MPa) in tensile strength, 24% increment (11.85 GPa to 14.69 GPa) in tensile modulus, and 15% improvement (1.4 gm/cm(3) to 1.61 gm/cm(3)) in fiber density as compared to that of untreated jute fiber. This study validates that nano-clay treatment has shown promising results and can improve the overall properties of natural fibers significantly.