Investigating the Influence of Hydroperoxide Treatment on the Bagasse Fiber Reinforced Composite Properties

This study has investigated the effect of hydroperoxide treatment on the properties of bagasse fibers in order to get the value added material using by-products from sugar production such as reinforcement for composite materials. The results of processing bagasse fibers with hydroperoxide at different concentration, temperature and treatement time showed that treatment condition had a great influence on the properties of the obtained fibers. With the suitable treatement conditions of 10% peroxide concentration, treatment time of 40 minutes, treatment temperature at 60 0C, the treated fiber has a more homogeneous surface than the untreated. The composite using hybrid bagasse/glass fiber has higher flexural and impact resistance than when using glass fiber and reaches 162.6 MPa and 38.9 KJ/m2 (16.7% and 213% respectively compared to composite using glass fiber only). This can be explained that the treated bagasse fiber has better wetting ability with the matrix resin and together with the energy absorption capacity of the fiber bundle, it leads to an increase in flexural strength and impact strength of composite material.