Hemp fibre reinforced composites using chelator and enzyme treatments

Abstract

The main objective of the current work was to investigate using chelator treatment, and combined chelator and enzyme treatments, to separate hemp fibre from its bundles, as well as remove non-cellulosic compounds, and thus therefore improve the interfacial bonding in the composite. Wet chemical analysis, FTIR, X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermal analysis and single fibre tensile testing were used to characterise the effect of treatment on hemp fibres. The higher chelator concentration treated hemp fibre composites had the highest tensile strength of 42 MPa, an increase of 19% compared to composites with untreated hemp fibre.