Mechanical property enhancement of self-bonded natural fiber material via controlling cell wall plasticity and structure

Self-bonded natural fiber material (SNFM) is a promising alternative for plastic and wood owing to its abundant raw material resources and low environmental impact. In this study, a high-performance SNFM was developed by the comprehensive treatments for the plasticity and structure of fiber cell wal...

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Main Authors: Quanliang Wang, Shengling Xiao, Sheldon Q. Shi, Liping Cai
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2019-06-01
Series:Materials & Design
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S026412751930200X
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author Quanliang Wang
Shengling Xiao
Sheldon Q. Shi
Liping Cai
author_facet Quanliang Wang
Shengling Xiao
Sheldon Q. Shi
Liping Cai
author_sort Quanliang Wang
collection DOAJ
description Self-bonded natural fiber material (SNFM) is a promising alternative for plastic and wood owing to its abundant raw material resources and low environmental impact. In this study, a high-performance SNFM was developed by the comprehensive treatments for the plasticity and structure of fiber cell walls. The cell wall structure was treated by a progressive chemical etching process for selectively removing surface lignin, internal lignin and hemicelluloses, respectively. The cell wall plasticity was tuned by controlling the fiber moisture content during compression molding process. The results showed that the increase in fiber plasticity improved the tensile strength from 38.0 to 83.5 MPa and the flexural strength from 31.2 to 73.3 MPa. The selective removal of surface lignin increased the flexural strength from 101.3 to 122.1 MPa. The functional relationships among mechanical strength, lignin content, hemicellulose content and moisture content were established. The self-bonded mechanism for natural fiber materials was also discussed. The SNFM products showed excellent mechanical performance (tensile strength: 21.5–83.5 MPa; flexural strength: 31.2–127.3 MPa), which was superior to that of natural wood (46.5–55.6 MPa; 70.7–92.4 MPa) and plastic (15.9–51.0 MPa; 21.7–73.0 MPa) (e.g., HDPE, PP, PVC, and ABS). Keywords: Natural fiber, Self-bonded, Fiber cell wall, Mechanical property
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spelling doaj.art-1314355d66084446be5c68a24eaa0f0a2022-12-21T18:48:02ZengElsevierMaterials & Design0264-12752019-06-01172Mechanical property enhancement of self-bonded natural fiber material via controlling cell wall plasticity and structureQuanliang Wang0Shengling Xiao1Sheldon Q. Shi2Liping Cai3College of Engineering and Technology, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, ChinaCollege of Engineering and Technology, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China; Corresponding author.Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, University of North Texas, Denton, TX 76203, USADepartment of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, University of North Texas, Denton, TX 76203, USASelf-bonded natural fiber material (SNFM) is a promising alternative for plastic and wood owing to its abundant raw material resources and low environmental impact. In this study, a high-performance SNFM was developed by the comprehensive treatments for the plasticity and structure of fiber cell walls. The cell wall structure was treated by a progressive chemical etching process for selectively removing surface lignin, internal lignin and hemicelluloses, respectively. The cell wall plasticity was tuned by controlling the fiber moisture content during compression molding process. The results showed that the increase in fiber plasticity improved the tensile strength from 38.0 to 83.5 MPa and the flexural strength from 31.2 to 73.3 MPa. The selective removal of surface lignin increased the flexural strength from 101.3 to 122.1 MPa. The functional relationships among mechanical strength, lignin content, hemicellulose content and moisture content were established. The self-bonded mechanism for natural fiber materials was also discussed. The SNFM products showed excellent mechanical performance (tensile strength: 21.5–83.5 MPa; flexural strength: 31.2–127.3 MPa), which was superior to that of natural wood (46.5–55.6 MPa; 70.7–92.4 MPa) and plastic (15.9–51.0 MPa; 21.7–73.0 MPa) (e.g., HDPE, PP, PVC, and ABS). Keywords: Natural fiber, Self-bonded, Fiber cell wall, Mechanical propertyhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S026412751930200X
spellingShingle Quanliang Wang
Shengling Xiao
Sheldon Q. Shi
Liping Cai
Mechanical property enhancement of self-bonded natural fiber material via controlling cell wall plasticity and structure
Materials & Design
title Mechanical property enhancement of self-bonded natural fiber material via controlling cell wall plasticity and structure
title_full Mechanical property enhancement of self-bonded natural fiber material via controlling cell wall plasticity and structure
title_fullStr Mechanical property enhancement of self-bonded natural fiber material via controlling cell wall plasticity and structure
title_full_unstemmed Mechanical property enhancement of self-bonded natural fiber material via controlling cell wall plasticity and structure
title_short Mechanical property enhancement of self-bonded natural fiber material via controlling cell wall plasticity and structure
title_sort mechanical property enhancement of self bonded natural fiber material via controlling cell wall plasticity and structure
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S026412751930200X
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AT shenglingxiao mechanicalpropertyenhancementofselfbondednaturalfibermaterialviacontrollingcellwallplasticityandstructure
AT sheldonqshi mechanicalpropertyenhancementofselfbondednaturalfibermaterialviacontrollingcellwallplasticityandstructure
AT lipingcai mechanicalpropertyenhancementofselfbondednaturalfibermaterialviacontrollingcellwallplasticityandstructure