IMPACT OF ALKALINE TREATMENT ON THE CONSTITUENTS, STRENGTH AND MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF BANANA FIBER

The readily availability of natural fibers have made them to be less expensive compared to the synthetic fibers. Hence, highest substitute for synthetic fibers in composites development today is natural fibers. In this research, banana fiber was extracted by dew retting and treated with alkaline for surface modification and possibly strengthening. Both treated and untreated fibers were tested with universal tensile testing machine and examined their surface morphology with scanning electron microscopy. The banana fiber's ultimate tensile strength (UTS) was assessed as a function of fiber diameter, test length and testing speed. It was observed from the results that chemical treatment improved the tensile strength of the fiber while surface morphology was noticed to be rough due to the removal of some fiber constituents. Hence, it was discovered that alkaline treatment improved the fiber condition, thus, making the fiber a suitable substitute for synthetic fibers in composite development