Production of bio-composite materials from water hyacinth fibers / Mohamed Hassan Hemida ; Supervised Mohamed Mahmoud Ibrahim , Eid Nasreldin Abdelrahman

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Agriculture - Department of Agricultural Engineering

Valorization of plant residues to constitute biodegradable ecofriendly composites grabbed ever increasing interest since 2-3 decades. Moreover, dealing with substantial amount of Nile rose plant has been growing challenge, especially during increasing demand on water. The main objective of this study is production of bio-composite materials from Nile roses plant, investigate The morphological, physical, mechanical, and chemical resistance of gelatinized starch (TPS) and its Nile rose fiber (NRF) filled composites and Determine the optimum Nile rose fibers content for production bio-composite materials. Corn starch was mixed with glycerol, then the mixture was blended with distilled water to obtain thermoplastic starch (TPS). The NaOH-treated Nile rose fiber was added to thermoplastic starch with different contents (0, 20, 40, 60, 80) %. The mixture of each composite sample was then placed in the mold, then the sample was preheated for 30 minutes at 150 ⁰C, then pressed for 30 minutes at 5 MPa and 150⁰C. Afterwards, the mold was removed and air cooling under a certain load until the mold temperature reached around 50-60 {u00B0}C. SEM and IR were showed good adhesion between fiber and matrix in 60% sample. The optimum combination of mechanical and chemical properties was obtained for sample containing 60% NRF and further increase in the fiber content shows drastic deterioration in mechanical properties. Raising fiber fraction boosted up hardness, water uptake, and chemical resistance. 60% sample was recommended to be potential candidate as a biodegradable panel for multitude of applications, especially automotive, decorative applications and packaging

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