1. Sugarcane bagasse- filled poly (vinyl chloride) composites:
An alternative use of sugarcane bagasse
Riza Wirawan1
Mohd. Sapuan Salit2
Robiah Yunus2
Khalina Abdan2
1Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Negeri Jakarta, Indonesia
2Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia.
SugarAsia 2012
Bangkok, ay 2012

2. What is poly (vinyl chloride) PVC?
Source:
Chlorine (56.8%): NaCl
Hydrocarbon: ethylene
less affected by the cost of petroleum and natural gas than other polymer
Atomic mass: Cl=35.5; H=1; C=12

3. Why (PVC)? Advantages low cost easy to fabricate high durability
outstanding chemical resistance to wide range of corrosive fluids
offer more strength and rigidity than most of the other thermoplastics
Widely used!

4. Why (PVC)? Price of Thermoplastics (March 2009)**

5. Disadvantages: Safety and environmental issues
Vinyl chloride (VC) is reported can make serious health problem
When PVC is processed, it produces hydrogen chloride and dioxins => damage the atmosphere
The issues have provoked environmental groups to criticize concerning its mass utilization!

6. PVC Ban PVC? many factories will be closed
many labours will loose their job
Generates many social problems*
*especially in developing countries

7. An alternative: Mixing PVC with natural fibre, as natural fibre/PVC composites:
reduce the utilization of PVC
reduce its inconveniences while conserving its advantages

8. What is sugarcane bagasse (SB)?
Chemical contents of bagasse:
cellulose (35-40%)
natural rubber (20-30%)
lignin (15-20%)
sucrose (10-15%)
Fibre can be found in two parts of bagasse:
inner (pith)
outer (rind)
Vilay V., Mariatti M., Taib R., and Todo M. (2008). Effect of fiber surface treatment and fiber loading on the properties of bagasse fiber–reinforced unsaturated polyester composites. Composites Science and Technology , 68(3-4), 633–638.

9. Why SB? One of the natural fibres: environmental friendly
It is a residue (low cost)
the availability of it, as a waste, is high
Worldwide production of sugarcane: Over 1.4 billion (109) tonnes per year**
Utilization of sugarcane bagasse may contributes to environmental and economic development.
*Lee, S.C and Mariatti, M. (2008). The effect of bagasse fibers obtained (from rind and pith component) on the properties of unsaturated polyester composites. Materials Letters. 62, 2253–2256
* * FAO. Food and Agricultural Commodities Production. retrieved on 23 January 2010.

10. Potential application
Trend of natural fibre composites:
thermoset thermoplastics
Demand:
window/door profiles,
fencing/siding/railings,
furniture,
flooring,
automotive interior parts,
pallets/crates/boxes,
marine components,
electrical plugs,
wiring ducts.
Kline & Company, inc. (2000). Opportunities for Natural Fibers in Plastic Composites, 2000, retrieved on October 14th 2008.

11. The challenges Pith or Rind? Compatibility?
Effect of thermal history & recyclability?

12. Effect of fibre content to mechanical properties of natural fibre PVC composites
Treatment
Fibre Content Reinforcement Effect*
Source s E
Wood
Nontreated - +
Djidjelli et al. 2002; Ge et al (2004)
PMPPIC
Kokta et al. 1990;
Bamboo
Silane
Ge et al. 2004
Sisal
Maleic Anhydride
Djidjelli et al. 2007
Oil Palm
Abu Bakar et al. 2005
Acrylic
Rice Straw
NaOH
N/A
Kamel 2004
Sugarcane Bagasse
Benzoic Acid
Zheng et al. 2007
* + represents increasing of the property with the increasing of fibre content
- represents decreasing of the property with the increasing of fibre content
Abu Bakar, A., A., H., and A.F.M., Y. (2005). Mechanical and thermal properties of oil palm empty fruit bunch-filled unplasticized poly (vinyl chloride) composites. Polymers and Polymer Composites , 13 (6),
Djidjelli H., Vega J.J.M., Farenc J., Benachour D. (2002). Effect of wood flour content on the thermal, mechanical and dielectric properties of poly(vinyl chloride). Macromolecular Materials and Engineering, 287(9), 611–618.
Kamel S. (2004). Preparation and properties of composites made from rice straw and poly (vinyl chloride) (PVC). Polymers for Advanced Technologies , 15(10),
Kokta B.V., Maldas D., Daneault C., and Beland, P. (1990). Composites of polyvinyl chloride-wood fibers. I. effect of isocyanate as a bonding agent. Polymer-plastics Technology and Engineering, 29 (1-2),
Zheng Y.-T., Cao D.R., Wang D.S., and Chen, J.-J. (2007). Study on the interface modification of bagasse fibre and the mechanical properties of its composite with PVC. Composites: Part A , 38 (1),

13. Thermal History Recyclability
Thermal history affects the morphology of polymer (i.e. degree of crystallinity).
In SB/PVC composites?
Recyclability
One of the thermoplastic’s advantages against thermoset is the recyclability.
In SB/PVC composites?

14. Objectives
to investigate the effect of fibre loading and fibre source (pith and rind) on the mechanical properties of SB/PVC composite.
to investigate the effect of fibre loading and fibre source (pith and rind) on the thermal properties of SB/PVC composite.
to determine the influence of various chemical treatments on the tensile properties of SB/PVC.
to examine the influence of thermal history on the tensile properties of SB/PVC composite.

15. Materials
PVC: unplasticised poly (vinyl chloride) compound (PVC) IR045A supplied by Polymer Resources Sdn. Bhd., Kelang, Selangor, Malaysia.
SB: residue of the sugarcane milling process gathered from sugarcane juice makers in Malaysia 15

16. material characterizations
Start
literature study
General
Flow Chart
specimen preparation
fibre preparation
composite processing
PVC preparation
Heat Treatment
recycling
material characterizations
data analysis
Conclusion

17. Pith PVC Rind Pith/PVC Rind/PVC Tensile Density Tensile DMTA10 20 30 40 10 20 30 40
Tensile
Density
Tensile
DMTA
Thickness swelling
Impact
Water absorption
Flexural
Density
Tensile
Density

18. Single fibre tensile test

19. Single fibre tensile test: Weibull distribution
The cumulative failure probability,
s0 is Weibull scale parameter or the characteristic stress value
m is Weibull parameter that measures the variability of the fibre strength. Larger value of m means smaller scatter in strength value.

20. Single fibre tensile test: Weibull distribution
The cumulative failure probability, Pi, under a particular strength
was approximated by
Where n is the number of fibres that failed at or below a certain value of stress.
N is the total number of fibres measured
Li, Y., Hu, C., and Y. Yu Interfacial studies of sisal fiber reinforced high density polyethylene (HDPE) composites.
Composites: Part A , 39,

21. Single fibre tensile test: Weibull distribution
Failure probability distribution of SBF at certain tensile stress
m = and s0 = MPa

22. Weibull Parameter
Value
Variability
Tensile Strength (Mpa)
Pith
52.35
2.56
Rind
187.32
2.60
Young's Modulus (Mpa)
4.16
2.68
Maximum Strain (%)
3.80
2.79
3.28
4.12

23. Tensile test of PVC and composites

24. Impact test of PVC and composites

25. Flexural test of PVC and composites

26. Fibre loading & fibre source vs thermal properties
Pith
PVC
Rind
Pith/PVC
Rind/PVC 10 20 30 40 10 20 30 40
DMTA

27. DMTA of PVC and composites
pith
rind

28. C coefficient
the effectiveness of fillers on the modulus of the composites*
measured E’ values at 60 and 100 oC were employed as E’G and E’R, respectively
Lower value=more effective
*L. A. Pothan, Z. Oommen and S. Thomas, Dynamic mechanical analysis of banana fiber reinforced polyester composites, Composites Science and Technology (2) 63 (2003), 28

29. DMTA of PVC and composites
pith
rind

30. Peak width of loss modulus
Volume of interface layer.
matrix
Interface layer
Fibre

31. Benzoic acid treatment
Bagasse
Washing
(sugar removal)
Benzoic acid treatment
Alkali treatment
PMPPIC treatment
Composite processing
Benzoic Acid
Alkali
PMPPIC
Washed
Untreated

32. Tensile test of composites after various treatments

33. SEM
a: washed
b: unwashed

34. SEM
SEM micrograph of (a) unwashed, (b) untreated sugar-free, (c) benzoic acid treated, (d) alkali treated, and (d) PMPPIC treated SB/PVC composites

35. Material preparation
Melt mixing
Hot pressing
Quenching
Annealing
HP-Q
HP-A
Tempering
at 60 oC (30 min)
Quenching
Annealing
T-Q
T-A

36. Tensile strength of heat-treated PVC and composites
No effect to the tensile strength of PVC
Significant effect to the tensile strength of composite (especially for HP-A)

37. Tensile modulus of heat-treated PVC and composites
No effect to the tensile modulus of PVC
Significant effect to tensile modulusof composite (especially for HP-A)

38. Strain at break of heat-treated PVC and composites
Significant effect to the strain at break of PVC
No significant effect to strain at break of composite.

39. Recycling T-Q-R T-A-R HP-A-R HP-Q-R T-Q T-A HP-A HP-Q Melt mixing
Hot pressing
Quenching

42. Conclusions
Best tensile strength and modulus: 40% rind/PVC. However, its impact strength is lower than that of unfilled PVC.
Pith/PVC offers higher thermal stability. Thermal stability of pith/PVC composites increased with the increase of fibre content.
Best treatment: no treatment
Among all of the studied thermal histories, quenching process offers the highest tensile properties of SB/PVC composites. Cooling of PVC at a lower rate resulted in lower strain at break, while low-rate cooling on SB/PVC composite resulted in lower tensile strength and modulus.

43. Thank you…