Investigation of plasma treatments on surface modification and thermal behaviour of Ceiba pentandra fibres

An eco-friendly method of surface modification known as plasma treatment has been applied extensively to a wide range of materials and industries. Compared to wet chemical procedures, plasma treatment is an environmentally benign, dry, and clean approach that poses no risks to human health or the environment. Plasma treatment improves the fibre surface roughness which in turn increases fibre-matrix adhesion to a great extent resulting in improved properties of composites. This study focuses on the treatment of Ceiba pentandra fibre using nitrogen and oxygen plasma with varying times and temperatures of exposure which were then assessed for their properties for determining the best conditions that provide intrinsic effects on textiles. The oxygen plasma treatment on Ceiba pentandra fibres showed the best results for surface modification at 35 °C for 20 min of exposure, and nitrogen plasma treatment exhibited the best results at the same temperature with lesser time of exposure for 10 min itself as per the morphological analysis. As for the roughness of fibres, the peak and valley values increased in all the samples treated with oxygen plasma and nitrogen plasma over the raw fibres. The roughness showed a drastic increase in the sample treated with both the gases namely oxygen and nitrogen at a temperature of 35 °C for 20 min of exposure with Rz values of 503.23 µm and 496.97 µm, respectively, over the untreated fibre samples which exhibit only 104.89 µm. The thermal stability was the highest in the fibres treated at 35 °C for 30 min on oxygen plasma treatment and at 30 °C for 10 min on nitrogen plasma treatment. This surface modification and thermal stability behaviour could find its utilization for composite manufacturing. It could be concluded that plasma treatment is an excellent effective technique for improving the surface roughness of Ceiba pentandra fibres which could be well utilized in composite manufacturing for its perfect matrix-reinforcement adhesion.