The objectives of the current study involve in situ depositing treatments of calcium carbonate particles onto bamboo fibers through the ionic reaction of sodium carbonate and calcium chloride aqueous solution at varied bath temperatures, and their impacts on surface features, wettability and tensile properties of single bamboo fibers. Field emission scanning electron microscopy was employed to characterize surface morphology of fibers. The wettability of bamboo fibers was evaluated by optical contact angle measurement instrument. The results show that nanoparticles and submicron particles grew into the wrinkles and micropores of fibers, the size, morphology and adsorbance of which were distinctively varied at different bath temperatures. The highest calcium carbonate adsorbance (2.34%) was obtained at 25°C. Besides, the mean values of contact angles increased and the variations within group were reduced as the loading percentage of particles rose, which might be due to reduced hydrophilic groups after coatings of calcium carbonate particles. The treatments were approved to enhance tensile properties of single bamboo fibers, comparing to the average tensile strengh and modulus of elasticity of the untreated, those of the treated bamboo fibers with the biggest calcium carbonate loading were higher by 30.50% and 32.71% respectively. It’s proved that the precipitating treatment is a useful method to densify and hydrophobize bamboo fibers and smooth out cell wall defects. What’s more, it provide explanations for improvements of physical and mechanical properties of paper and fiber reinforced plastic composites filled with inorganic nanoparticles.
Effect of the Statistical Nature of Fiber Strength on the Predictability of Tensile Properties of Polymer Composites Reinforced with Bamboo Fibers: Comparison of Linear- and Power-Law Weibull Models
