Characterization and properties of Alkali treated flax

Flax, a kind of natural fiber, has been widely applied as reinforcing materials for polymer composites because of its superior tensile properties. It normally contains noncellulose portions and other impurities, which could act as stress concentration regions to affect negatively the mechanical properties of composites. In this work, canadian linseed flax (F1) was treated by alkali to remove the noncellulose portions and impurities. The treated F1 was characterized in detail applying SEM, FTIR, TGA and single fiber tensile test for its promising application in composites as natural materials. The proper condition of alkali treatment was explored and determined to be 2% of NaOH for 1h at 80\ub0C. Under this condition, the mechanical property of the fiber was 10% better than that of untreated F1, and the non-cellulose portion removing ratio was more than 25% without hurting fiber structure. \ua9 (2014) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye

Effect of hydroxyapatite morphology/surface area on the rheology and processability of hydroxyapatite polyethylene composite.

NoThe commercial success of hydroxyapatite (HA) filled polyethylene composite has generated growing interest in improving the processability of the composite. A number of synthetic procedures and post synthesis heat treatment of HA has lead to the availability of powders with widely varying morphological features. This paper addresses the effect of morphological features of HA on the rheology and processability of an injection-moulding grade HA-HDPE composite. The results showed that low surface area HA filled composite exhibited better injection processing characteristics through improved rheological responses. The effect of reducing the surface area of the filler is to require less polyethylene to wet the filler and allows more polyethylene to be involved in the flow processes. These changes reduced the temperatures and pressures required for successful processing