Effect of Chemical Treatments on the Physicochemical and Tensile Properties of Cow Hair Fibre for Low Load Bearing Composites Development

Abstract

This research has investigated the influence of H 2 O 2 , KOH and NaOH treatments on the physicochemical and tensile properties of cow hair fibres for composites applications. The chemical treatments for this present study were prepared with predetermined molar concentrations of 0.10, 0.15 and 0.2 M respectively. The physicochemical properties of the cow hair fibres were established using proximate analysis and the tensile properties of the fibres were evaluated with the aid of an Instron universal testing machine. From the results of the proximate analysis, it was observed that, with increase in the concentration of the H 2 O 2 treatment there was increase in the crude protein and moisture contents and decrease in the ash content of the fibres. However, the KOH and NaOH treatments showed an opposite trend. Also, from the tensile test results, it was observed that the chemical treatments aided the enhancement of ultimate tensile and yield strengths of the fibres in comparison with the untreated fibres while tensile strain at break was enhanced by 0.1 and 0.2 M of KOH as well as 0.2 M of NaOH treatments. The results of this research have shown that proper chemical treatment can enhance the properties of cow hair fibres for composites applications.