Journal of Natural Fibers

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Effect of Fiber Pre-treatment Methods on

Hygrothermal Aging Behavior of Agave Fiber
Reinforced Polymer Composites

Ishita Kamboj , Rajat Jain , Deepak Jain & Tarun Kumar Bera

To cite this article: Ishita Kamboj , Rajat Jain , Deepak Jain & Tarun Kumar Bera (2020): Effect of
Fiber Pre-treatment Methods on Hygrothermal Aging Behavior of Agave Fiber Reinforced Polymer
Composites, Journal of Natural Fibers, DOI: 10.1080/15440478.2020.1838398

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/15440478.2020.1838398

Published online: 03 Nov 2020.

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JOURNAL OF NATURAL FIBERS
https://doi.org/10.1080/15440478.2020.1838398

Effect of Fiber Pre-treatment Methods on Hygrothermal Aging

Behavior of Agave Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composites
Ishita Kamboj, Rajat Jain, Deepak Jain , and Tarun Kumar Bera
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology, Patiala, India

ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
Three different pre-treatment methods, that is, alkali hornification, water Agave natural fibers;
hornification, and alkali treatment, are evaluated for the improvement in hygrothermal aging; fiber
durability of agave natural fiber-reinforced polymer composites under the Pre-treatment; alkali
Hornification; water
hygrothermal aging conditions. The composite specimens were prepared
hornification; moisture
following the standard test procedures laid for moisture diffusion analysis. To diffusion
analyze the effect of different treatment conditions, the standard test speci­
mens were subjected to different hygrothermal aging conditions in the 关键词
accelerated environments. After four subsequent hornification cycles, the 金合欢纤维; 碱化; 核磁共
alkali hornification resulted in about 27% lower water retention value in 振波谱; 抗拉强度; 表面粗
the agave fibers. Under similar conditions, water hornification leads to 糙度; 分析
a meager 6% loss of water retention. Under the direct exposure to water,
the alkali-hornified composites had a mass gain of 4.1%, 4.3%, and 4.7%,
respectively, at 25°C, 50°C, and 75°C. The mass gain of alkali-treated compo­
sites was 4.3%, 4.5%, and 5.1%. and water hornification resulted in a mass
gain of 5.5%, 5.9%, and 6.1% at similar temperatures. Under the humidity
conditions, the alkali-hornified composites had a mass gain of 0.9%, 1.3%,
and 1.1%, respectively, at 25°C, 50°C, and 75°C. The mass gain of alkali-
treated composites was 0.6%, 1.05%, and 1.2%. and water hornification
resulted in the mass gain of 0.66%, 1.07%, and 1.3% at similar temperatures.
The present study reveals the influence of fiber pre-treatment methods on
moisture durability of agave natural fiber composites. The results are further
supported through microstructural investigations.
摨要
本文研究了原丝相思纤维和碱化金合欢纤维（ACF）的基本性能（直
径、密度、化学成分、结晶性质、热性能、拉伸性能和表面形貌）, 并
对其作为绿色复合材料增强体的适宜性进行了验证. 化学分析结果表明,
5%（w/v）NaoH处理45min后, 化学成分的变化比其他处理时间（15、
30、60、75 min）要乐观. 通过傅立叶变换红外光谱（FTIR）和核磁共
振（NMR）谱图, 确定了碱化活性炭纤维中木质素和半纤维素含量的降
低. X射线衍射（XRD）分析表明, 最佳碱化ACF的结晶参数（结晶度指数
27.5%～35.6%）和晶粒度（4.17nm～6.43nm）有所改善. 在热分析仪的
帮助下, 生成了未处理和最佳碱化活性炭纤维的质量降解模式（TG和
DTG曲线）. 用扫描电镜和原子力显微镜观察碱化对活性炭纤维表面形貌
的影响.

Introduction
Over the years, the commercial usage of natural fiber composites is increased in several buildings,
packaging, sports, automotive, and textile applications. Besides being low cost and environment-
friendly materials, many natural fibers provide a fine array of mechanical and thermal, and physical

CONTACT Deepak Jain deepak.jain@thapar.edu Department of Mechanical Engineering, Thapar Institute of Engineering &
Technology, Patiala 147004, India.
© 2020 Taylor & Francis
2 I. KAMBOJ ET AL.

properties. These are accompanied by several inherent limitations such as affinity to moisture and the
climatic temperatures on the mechanical and physical performance, which limits their use in the
outdoor applications.
The properties of natural fibers can be improved by suitable chemical and surface treatments
(Sanjay et al. 2019). Recently, several methods, namely, alkali, ultrasonic, and plasma treatment, have
been used toward the improvement in the overall mechanical and physical property array of the
natural fibers. It has been demonstrated that alkali treatment can increase the mechanical properties of
most of the natural fibers such as Flax (Arbelaiz et al. 2005), Sisal (Krishnaiah, Ratnam, and Manickam
2017), Palmyra (Jain et al. 2019b), and Banana fibers (Ghosh et al. 2014). The alkali treatment
enhances the characteristics of the natural fibers extracted from plants and its different parts such as
stem, leafs, fruit bunch, and roots, etc. (Babu et al. 2020; Ganapathy et al. 2019; Narayanasamy et al.
2020; Premalatha et al. 2019; Vijay et al. 2019). Removal of hemicellulose content improved the surface
roughness, which further improved the adhesion of fiber with resin (Reddy et al. 2013). Synergistic
effects of ultrasound and alkaline treatment resulted in a considerable enhancement of mechanical,
thermal, and interfacial properties of oil palm natural fibers (Alam et al. 2012). The application
ultrasonic treatment method was also used to improve the water absorption kinetics of banana fibers
(Ghosh et al. 2014). The effect of high-intensity ultrasound and plasma treatment was also studied on
the morphology of natural fibers extracted from the leaves of giant reed (Scalici, Fiore, and Valenza
2016). An effect of similar pre-treatment methods was studied on the quasi-static mechanical proper­
ties of Sisal fibers (Krishnaiah, Ratnam, and Manickam 2017). Amid various methods, hornification,
a cyclic and accelerated aging of the fibers for short durations, is known to increase the cross-link
within fiber microstructure. Water hornification (Mendes et al. 2019), and alkali hornification
methods (Ardanuy et al. 2012; Jain et al. 2019a) have been successfully used to improve the mechanical
strength and durability of different plant-based natural fibers.
Taking a cue from the available literature, we analyze the effect of three different fiber pre-treatment
methods on the agave natural fiber-based composites. Despite some decent mechanical properties of
the Agave fibers, due to the presence of high lignified cellulose content (68%–80%), these fibers have
high affinity toward moisture. A long-term exposure to moisture and water results in volumetric
expansion, degradation, and further structural damage of the polymer composites (Jain, Mukherjee,
and Kwatra 2015, 2016). Coupling effects of temperature and moisture exposure are more harmful
amidst the fact that at higher temperatures, the diffusing species ingresses much faster inside the bulk,
and hence it accelerates the degradation (Platten 2005). The Agave natural fibers were pre-treated
using three different methods viz. Alkali Hornification (4 cycles), Water Hornification (4 cycles) and
Alkali treatment with 2% (w/v) NaOH solution. The composite specimen were subjected under
different humid/wet environments maintained at the temperatures conditions ranging from 0 °
C to75 °C. Surface morphology of hydrothermally aged composite specimens was analyzed by
scanning electron microscopy (SEM). All the pre-treatment method resulted in an improved hygro­
thermal performance of the considered natural fiber composites, a quantitative comparison on the
effectiveness of these pre-treatment methods is drawn by measuring the weight gain of the composite
specimen, over the complete time span (t) of moisture and temperature exposure conditions.

Methodology
The Agave plant is mainly cultivated in Mexico and USA. These plants have a life span of 8 years to
30 years and they shed around 40–50 leaves in a year. With a mean length of 650 mm, agave fibers are
much longer in comparison with the most of natural fibers. The fiber content of these leaves vary from
2.5% to 4.5%. The agave fibers can be extracted mechanically from its plant leaves, and fiber density is
approximately 1.4 g/cm3. As the Agave fibers can be extracted from its leaf without any fiber leftovers,
it is also referred as a zero-waste material. As most of the natural fibers do not possess any standard
diameter, the Agave fibers also have a variable diameter of 100–150 µm. The tensile strength of these
 JOURNAL OF NATURAL FIBERS 3

fibers varies from 400 to 700 MPa (Hulle, Kadole, and Katkar 2015). Due to low density, and moderate
tensile strength, these fibers are found suitable for low to mild load-bearing applications.
For the present experiments, the Agave fibers were supplied by a local vendor (Coimbatore, India).
The fibers were hard and coarse in texture which indicated a moderate presence of high lignin content.
Epoxy resin (LY556) as a matrix material and hardener (HY951) were purchased from Huntsman
corporation (Bangalore, India). The fibers were pre-treated using three different methods. A detailed
description of each of the method described below.

Alkali hornification
During the Alkali hornification, Agave fibers were subjected to sequential wetting and drying cycles.
Agave fiber bunches weighing 200 gm each were soaked in 2% (w/v) alkali solution for 2 hours. Upon
soaking, the bunches were placed inside an electric furnace for the subsequent drying. A soaking and
subsequent drying cycle formed one hornification cycle. The temperature and time span for the
alternate soaking and drying cycles were described as:

(a) Soaking cycle: At 23°C temperature for 2 hours.

(b) Drying cycle: At 110°C temperature for 5 hours.

Similar conditions were used for the hornification in (Kato and Cameron 1999). In the soaking
process, an electronic bath tub was maintained at room temperature of 23°C for the entire duration.
Whereas during the drying cycle, a temperature of 110°C was maintained for 4 h and then reduced
gradually during the last hour to avoid any kind of thermal shocks to the fiber. Four sequential cycles
of alternating soaking and drying were completed. The number of cycles was followed after the
experimental work (Ballesteros et al. 2015). In water retention value (WRV) (Ballesteros et al. 2015;
Gu et al. 2018), a standardized method to quantitatively measure the extent of hornification was
measured. Mass of the composite measured after each soaking cycle is called wet mass (Mw), and the
mass of dry composite specimen, calculated after each drying step in the furnace is called dry mass
(Md). WRV is expressed as.
ðMw Md Þ
WRV ð%Þ ¼ X100 (1)
Md
Figure 1 shows the fiber texture and color at the end of each successive wetting and drying cycle.
The preliminary visual inspections indicated a change in fiber appearance between the subsequent
hornification cycles. In addition, the shrinkage of fiber strands was apparent after each hornification
cycle. A possible cause of such shrinkage is the collapse of fiber cell wall. The shrinkage of diameter
is expected to improve adhesion between fiber and matrix during the fabrication of composites. As
the alkali treatment removes the hydrophilic cellulose and lignin content, a subsequent hornifica­
tion is expected to improve the moisture barrier properties of these fibers. The agave fibers
conditioned after the 4th cycle were used for the preparation of composite specimens for further
testing.

Water hornification
During the water hornification, the fibers were first soaked in the distilled water and subsequently
placed in furnace. Four such hornification cycles were performed by taking similar temperature
conditions, and time durations, as followed during the alkali hornification. The weight of dried and
water saturated specimen were measured once, after each hornification cycle. The WRV was calculated
according to Equation 1. Transition in the fiber appearance after subsequent water hornification cycles
is shown in Figure 2. The water hornification resulted in increased surface roughness. Removal of
4 I. KAMBOJ ET AL.

Figure 1. The Fiber surface texture after alkali hornification (a) Cycle-I, (b) Cycle-II, (c) Cycle-III, and (d) cycle- IV.

Figure 2. Transition of fiber appearance after subsequent water hornification (a) Cycle-I, (b) Cycle-II, (c) Cycle-III, and (d) cycle- IV.

lignin and cellulose during the subsequent hornification cycles resulted in the change of fibers
appearance from the silver to the brown.

Alkali (NaOH) treatment

Direct alkali treatment is another popular method used for the removal of hemicellulose and lignin
content in natural fibers. In the context of present work, it is conceived that the removal of impurities
and reduction in fiber diameter can improve the fiber-matrix adhesion and reduce the moisture
durability of Agave fiber composite. For the present study, the alkali treatment method specified by
Oudiani et al. (2012) has been used, and fibers were immersed in the 2% (w/v) alkali (NaOH) solution
for an hour. A similar alkali concentration was taken during alkali hornification process. Distilled
water was used to wash the fibers and ensure the removal of alkali and its traces, and left in open for
drying. Figure 3 shows the untreated fibers before and after the alkali treatment. A similar change in
color textures was visible for alkali hornification.
 JOURNAL OF NATURAL FIBERS 5

Figure 3. Images of (a) Untreated, and (b) 2% NaOH treated Agave fibers.

Preparation of composite specimen

The agave fibers, pre-treated using above method, were used to prepare the composite specimen. An
epoxy-based matrix was prepared by mixing resin (LY556) and hardener (HY951) in a ratio of 10:1.
The unidirectional composite sheets were prepared using the standard lay-up method at then cured at
the room temperature for seven days. Figure 4 shows the post-cured composite sheets. A color
transition is apparent with the light brown color of untreated fibers to an off-white color of alkali-
treated fibers, dark brown color of Alkali hornified, and bumble-bee color of water hornified fibers.
The effect post-curing is also evident on the comparison of seven day cured and uncured composite
sheet.
The rectangular specimens were prepared in a size of 76.2×24.5×3 mm3 from the cured sheets.
A portable treadle shearing machine used to cut the specimens, and the dimensions were chosen
according to the ASTM water absorption standard test (ASTM D570-98 2018). Along with several
plastics, the standard used ASTM method is also applicable to resinous products having a thickness
higher than 0.13 mm, and in tubular and plane sheet forms. The required number of specimens was
decided by considering the number of environment conditions of temperature and humidity to be
investigated. Figure 5 shows the shape of composite rectangular shape specimen cutouts, marked
according to the method of fiber pre-treatment.

Test equipment details

To demonstrate the effect of water, humidity, and temperature conditions, the specimens were tested
under accelerated aging by using three different equipment. We use (a) an environment chamber
(temperature and humidity controlled), (b) Water bath (temperature controlled), and (c) Cryostat
bath (temperature controlled) to investigate the effect of environmental conditions. The details on
different environmental conditions are as follows:

Environment chamber
A forced air circulation environment chamber was used to determine the effect of combined moisture
and temperature on differently treated Agave fiber composites. With a consistency of ±1.0°C, the
temperature range of this equipment was from ambient temperature to 80°C. The humidity range was
between 0% RH (Relative humidity) to 90% RH. The moisture diffusion experiments were conducted
at three different temperatures, namely, 25°C, 50°C, and 75°C under a relative humidity of 70%. While
carrying the specimen from a water bath to weighing scale, there may be undue moisture loss. As
a remedy, ASTM D570-98 suggests that the specimens should be carried in an air-tight container.
Hence, for the intermittent weight gain measurements, the aforementioned procedure was followed
while transferring the specimens between the chamber and precision weighing scale. A precision
6 I. KAMBOJ ET AL.

Figure 4. Composite sheets (uncured & cured) of pre-treated Agave Americana fibers.

weight balance was used to weigh the specimens at periodic time instances. The precision weight
balance was capable to measure the specimen weight ranging from 0.1 gm to 120 gm with a least count
of 0.2 mg.

Water bath
A digital water bath was used to study the effect of exposure of composites to the water. The outer wall
of the aging chamber was made of electro-galvanized powder-coated steel and the interior was made of
thick stainless-steel sheets. The interior was insulated with high-grade glass wool. Three coil-beaded
 JOURNAL OF NATURAL FIBERS 7

Figure 5. The shape of the final specimen.

heaters with temperature controller inside the chamber could maintain the temperature range of the
water bath from ambient temperature to 95°C with an accuracy of ±0.5°C. Environmental condition­
ing was done at three different temperatures, namely, 25°C, 50°C, and 75°C.

Cryostat bath
A cryostat bath was used for the water diffusion experiments at 0°C temperature. As the heating coils
served the dual purposes of heating and cooling, the cryostat bath used for the experiments could maintain
the temperatures from −10°C to 50°C. In order to avoid the ice formation at 0°C and below, the non-
reactive ethylene glycol agent was mixed as an anti-freezing agent in the distilled water in the ratio of 1:1.

Results and comparisons

The present section compares the effect of all the three methods on the moisture/water diffusion
behavior of agave fiber composites. For each test condition, three specimens were used and the results
were averaged. Therefore, considering 28 different test conditions, a total of 84 specimens were used
for the overall experiments.

Comparison of water retention value (WRV)

The WRV is calculated after each hornification cycle. Table 1 summarizes the WRVs calculated from
alkali and water hornification methods, and Figure 6 plots the WRV curves for both the methods.
Observing the black curve for alkali hornification technique, the water retention (indicted by WRV%)
is highest in the untreated fibers (i.e. zero cycle). WRV declines sharply from initial, zero cycle, to first
and second cycles. As the cellulosic content is responsible for water retention, the sharp drop in WRV
after first and second cycles indicates a substantial removal of this matter. As the drop in WRV is not
so steep after the third and fourth hornification cycles, it shows that the cellulosic content in the fibers
subsided prior to this stage. The overall hornification (%) in the last column of Table 1 is measured as
the percentile reduction of wet fiber weight of untreated fibers to the fiber weight calculated after the
fourth cycle.
8 I. KAMBOJ ET AL.

Table 1. Water retention value and hornification percentile.

Alkali Hornification
Initial 1st cycle 2nd cycle 3rd cycle 4th cycle Hornification (%)
WRV (%) 200- 176.1 158.6 149.1 145.3 27.4
Std. Deviation (%) 6.2 4.7 3.1 5.8
Water Hornification
Initial 1st cycle 2nd cycle 3rd cycle 4th cycle Hornification (%)
WRV (%) 200- 196.5 190.3 188.2 187.7 6.2
Std. Deviation (%) 7.9 6.2 3.2 2.5

Figure 6. Comparison of WRV curves for Alkali and Water hornification techniques.

With a magnitude of 27% hornification, alkali hornification proves more effective when compared to
the water hornification method having hornification of 6.2%. This is understandable, as the alkali medium
can soak out both cellulosic and hemicellulosic fiber contents more effectively from the natural fibers.

Comparison of mass gain

In this section, we compare the mass gain of the composites under different environmental
conditions. The results are depicted through four bar plots in Figure 7(a–d) for untreated, alkali
hornified, water hornified, and alkali-treated fibers. The bars in a graph indicate the mass gain in
same time duration (t) for seven different environmental conditions. First bar in each shows the
mass gain % under the water exposure in the cryostat bath. 2nd, 3rd and 4th bar show the mass gain
in water bath at 25°C, 50 °C, and 75, respectively, while the last three bars shows the mas gain under
the humidity conditions at 25°C, 50°C, and 75°C in the environmental chamber. The effect of
elevated temperatures is evident by the increase in mass gain percentage at higher temperatures. The
accelerated diffusion kinetics with the faster progression of the moisture can be attributed to the
 JOURNAL OF NATURAL FIBERS 9

Figure 7. The overall mass gain for different temperature and humidity conditions in (a) untreated, (b) Alkali hornified, (c) water
hornified, and (d) alkali-treated agave fiber composites.

increase in diffusion coefficient. Clearly, for an identical environmental condition, the untreated
fiber composites (Figure 7(a)) absorbed more water/moisture in comparison with the pre-treated
fibers (Figure 7(b–d)).
Figure 8(a–d) compares the mass gain of the composite specimens under the direct exposure to
water at four pdifferent
ffiffi temperatures, namely, 0°C, 25°C, 50°C, and 75°C. The results are plotted for
mass gain vs t.
Figure 8(a) shows the mass gain of the specimen in cryostat bath maintained at 0. The mass gain (%)
under the same temperature conditions asymptotes at 1.58%, 2.3%, 2.51%, and 3.6% for the alkali
hornified, NaOH treated, water hornified, and untreated fiber composites, respectively. A matching
trend is observed through the Figure 8(b–d) for the water bath experiments at 25, 50, and 75, respectively.
The mass gain of the alkali-hornified composites was ,4.1% at 25°C, 4.3% at 50°C, and 4.7% at 75°C,
whereas the mass gain for the alkali (NaOH) treated composites was ,4.3% at 25 °C, 4.5% at 50 °C, and
5.1% at 75 °C. The mass gain for water-hornified composites was , 5.5% at 25°C, 5.9% at 50°C, and 6.1%
at 75°C, which is higher than the weight gain of Alkali-treated composites subjected under similar aging
conditions. Finally, the mass gain for untreated fiber composites is highest, and it is 6.3% at 25°C, 7.9% at
50°C, and 8.1% at 75°C. There are a few outliers in the plots, and these can be attributed to some
incidental errors in weight measurement, and/or improper handling of the specimens. Ignoring these
outliers, under the identical aging conditions, the alkali hornified agave fiber composites had the lowest
mass gain, followed by alkali treated, water hornified,
pffiffi and untreated composites.
Figure 9(a–c) plots the mass gain versus t curves under the controlled humidity (70% RH), at
three different temperature conditions of 25°C, 50°C, and 75 °C, respectively. Once again, irrespective
of the humidity and temperature condition, the pre-treated agave fiber composites demonstrated
10 I. KAMBOJ ET AL.

pffiffi
Figure 8. Mass gain vs t curves under the water exposure at different temperature conditions in (a) Cryo bath, and (b-d) Water bath
maintained at different temperatures.

higher resistance toward the moisture absorption. On comparing the curves across the plots, the
untreated fiber showed a mass gain of 0.9% at 25°C, 1.267% at 50°C & 1. 12% at 75°C. The weight gain
of alkali-treated composites inside the environment chamber at 70% relative humidity are 0.6%,
1.05%, and 1.2% at 25°C, 50°C, and 75 °C, respectively. For the water hornified composites the mass
gain was measured as 0.66%,1.07%, and 1.3%, respectively, at 25°C, 50°C, and 75°C. Among all three
methods, Alkali hornification proved to be the most effective method with mass gain of composites
reduced by ~40%–50% in under most of the environmental conditions when compared with the mass
gain of untreated agave fiber composites.

Microstructural investigations
Microstructural fiber morphology was investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM).
Micrographs for the alkali hornified, and alkali-treated specimens are presented in Figures 10 and
11, respectively.
Figure 10 shows the SEM images of the fiber’s cross-section at two different resolution scales of 100
and 20 microns. Shrinkage of fiber cells at the end of each hornification is noticeable. This is because of
the excessive fatigue in fiber cell walls due to alternating drying and wetting cycles. Such a fatigue of cell
walls may result in increased surface roughness of the fiber strands, and help in improving the bonding
with polymer matrix. The regions enclosed in dashed yellow rectangles show a reduced shrinkage of fiber
cells with subsequent drying and wetting cycles. The shrinkage around the large voids results in the
formation of microcracks. These are visible in the higher resolution images shown in figure (10(b2), 10
 JOURNAL OF NATURAL FIBERS 11

pffiffi
Figure 9. Mass gain vs t curves under the humidity condition at different temperatures in the environment chamber.

(c2), and 10(d2)). Figure 11 is another high-resolution SEM image of alkali-treated fiber. A small
cellulose concentration on the microfibrillar front can be observed even after the fiber treatment. Once
again, the formation of voids indicates the removal of cellulose and hemicellulose contents. With
a meager hornification of 6.2% (cf. Table 1), it is envisaged that water hornification does not bring
about any significant change to the fiber microstructure when compared to the alkali hornification.

Conclusions
A comprehensive experimental study has been performed to determine the effect of three different
fiber conditioning methods. The effect of Alkali hornification, water hornification, and alkali treat­
ment has been evaluated to predict the improvement in hygrothermal durability of agave fiber
composites. On comparing the weight gain of standard test specimens, with the benchmark untreated
agave fiber composites, it is found that all the three methods lead to an improved moisture durability
of agave fiber composites. However, among all the three methods, the alkali hornification proved to be
the most effective technique to improve the hygrothermal durability. Notably, the water retention
value, which is a measure of the affinity of natural fiber composites toward the moisture, is much lower
for the alkali hornification technique as compared to the water hornification technique. As the first
two alkali hornification cycles lead to a substantial reduction in WRV. It is recommended to avoid the
further hornification, and save on the pre-processing cost of these fibers. For most of the test
conditions, it is deduced that alkali hornification method has a potential to bring down the mass
gain of agave fiber composites from a minimum of 30% to as high as 120% when compared with mass
gain of benchmark untreated fiber composites. The present investigations, bring to fore, the potential
12 I. KAMBOJ ET AL.

Figure 10. SEM Details of the fiber’s cross-section after each cycle of alkali hornification.

of three different fiber pre-treatment techniques, especially alkali hornification. However, for design­
ing hygro-mechanical durable natural fiber composites, while maintaining the mechanical strength,
 JOURNAL OF NATURAL FIBERS 13

Figure 11. SEM image of a 2% Alkali-treated fiber.

a trade-off between any of these methods can provide the opportunity to morph a tailored composite
structure. This is an exciting research area to pursue.

ORCID
Deepak Jain http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1417-3186

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