Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
of the acetyl groups, accounting for most of a 7% mass loss [7] studied
the influence of silane degradation on the mechanical properties of vinyl
ester composites reinforced with glass, sisal and coconut fibers and natural
fibers modified with bitumen. Flexural and impact properties of turmeric
fiber reinforced composites is determined by Srinivasababu et al. [8], and
compared the results with other composites reinforced with various fibers.
Turmeric is known as the 'golden spice' and 'spice of life.' It has been
used in India as a medicinal plant, and held sacred from time immemorial.
In India the state of Andhra Pradesh is the largest producer of turmeric,
with an area of 64,000 ha and a production of 3, 46, 000 t. Botanically
turmeric is called “Curcuma Longa.” Turmeric importance was lucidly
described by Ravindran et al. [9].
Utilization of discarded turmeric stems for making composites and us-
ing them for various engineering applications is obviously a significant
subject. In 2010, Srinivasababu et al. [10] reported the tensile properties of
turmeric fiber reinforced polyester composites reinforced with chemically
treated fiber at various concentrations.
6.2
EXPERIMENTAL WORK
6.2.1 EXTRACTION OF FIBER
In the present work turmeric stems are taken from the field of Chenna-
kesavaiah, Gorigapudi, Guntur Dt. and are used to extract the fiber by
Rolling method introduced by Srinivasababu [10] and is described below.
Stems of turmeric are placed between two hard Bunwar rubber sheets. A
roller of 40 mm diameter is allowed to roll manually on the top surface of
the rubber sheet slowly. Then the split fibers are carefully detached from
the bonding portions if any present, using a splitter of 0.5 mm diameter
needle. The extracted fiber is segregated into turmeric stem fiber (TSF),
turmeric petiole fiber (TPF).
6.2.2 CHEMICAL TREATMENT
Both the extracted fibers (turmeric stem and petiole) are chemically treated
(CT) at ambient temperature. Initially turmeric stem fibers are treated with
0.125 M NaOH (45 min), 0.007909 M KMnO
4
(5 min) and 1.40701E-05
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