EFFECT OF CHEMICAL TREATMENT ON THE CONSTITUENTS AND TENSILE PROPERTIES OF OIL PALM LEAF FIBRE

The effect of chemical treatment on the constituents and tensile properties of oil palm leaf fiber was investigated. Oil palm leaves were cut and buried underground close to the stream, and were regularly wetted with water to ensure proper fermentation for 20 days. The fermented leaves were washed and sun dried. The dried oil palm leaf fibers obtained were mechanically treated with chemicals, while some were left as control (untreated). The fibers were then characterized in terms of their percentage constituents, and their tensile properties determined with Instron universal testing machine. The tensile properties studied were ultimate tensile strength (UTS), elongation at yield and at break, Young’s modulus of elasticity as well as resilience. The results show that chemical treatments enhanced the removal of lignin and hemicelluloses which are detrimental to the interfacial bond strength of composite produced from natural fibers, except the sample treated with alkaline peroxide. Tensile test results reveal that fiber sample treated sequentially with KOH, acetic acid, Nacl and Hcl produced the highest UTS, elongation at yield, elongation at break and resilience. This is attributed to the plasticizing effect of the chemical treatment. However, the untreated fiber sample exhibited the highest Young’s modulus of elasticity. This observation was attributed to the highly crystalline nature of unmodified cellulose.