Water absorption properties of kenaf fibre-poly(vinyl alcohol) composites

Tan, B.K. and Ching, Yern Chee and Gan, Seng Neon and Ramesh, Singh and Rahman, M.R. (2014) Water absorption properties of kenaf fibre-poly(vinyl alcohol) composites. Materials Research Innovations, 18 (S6). pp. 144-146. ISSN 1432-8917, DOI https://doi.org/10.1179/1432891714Z.000000000946.

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1179/1432891714Z.000000000946

Abstract

The composite was prepared by mixing aqueous solution of different ratios of poly(vinyl alcohol) into dried kenaf fibres. The water absorbency of this polymer composite was investigated. It was found that the polymer composite starts to swell when immersed into water and reaches the highest water absorption percentage in the first 1 hour. The highest water absorption percentage was 273 and 251% for the composite with 2 and 10 wt% of poly(vinyl alcohol), respectively, in 24 hours. The high water absorbency could be due to the interaction of water with the hydroxyl group in the poly(vinyl alcohol) and fibres, similar to other reported works on cellulose composites. Interestingly, the poly(vinyl alcohol) in the composite only starts to dissolve very slowly over more than 7 days before the kenaf fibres started to dropout from the composite. This water absorption capability of the polymer composite could have potential applications that require high water-retaining properties. Besides, this composite is non-toxic.

Item Type: Article
Funders: UNSPECIFIED
Uncontrolled Keywords: Polyvinyl alcohol; Kenaf fibres; Water absorption; Agriculture
Subjects: Q Science > Q Science (General)
T Technology > TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery
Divisions: Faculty of Engineering
Depositing User: Dr Mohd Faizal Hamzah
Date Deposited: 30 Dec 2015 08:50
Last Modified: 06 Dec 2019 05:47
URI: http://eprints.um.edu.my/id/eprint/15461

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