Extraction & Characterization of a Novel Natural Cellulosic Fibre from the Stem of Indian Barnyard Millet (Sanwa) as a Potential for Reinforced Polymer Composites

Natural Fibres have attained a significant attention in the quest of making environment friendly green planet. This has created a huge need to explore more and more novel cellulosic fibres and test their potential to achieve the set goal. With same goal, this study involves the extraction of stem fibres from a common crop Indian Barnyard Millet (Echinocloa frumentecia). Different physical properties and morphology of the fibres extracted from the stem of IBM plants were evaluated, analysed and compared. Different standard characterisation techniques were used to determine these properties like FTIR, XRD, TGA, XPS, AFM and SEM. IBMS fibres. The density and diameter of IBMS fibres calculated are 0.88 g/cm ³ and 51.95 µm respectively. The chemical analysis evaluated the cellulosic content as 63.1% of IBMS fibres. SEM images confirmed adequate roughness on the fibre surface which may enhance the matrix and fibre binding, while XRD analysis confirmed the semi crystalline nature of the fibre with crystallinity index reported as 59%. Thermo gravimetric analysis showed the fibre thermally stable up to 250 ⁰ C and activation energy computed for the thermal degradation is 146 KJ/mol which makes this fibre fairly suitable to be used in natural fibre-based bio composites. Composite using the IBM stem fibre with different loading was also prepared at the end and tested mechanically for tensile strength and modulus. 15% fiber to filler loading possessed the highest tensile strength of among all others, making this fibre to genuinely compete with other novel cellulosic fibre used as reinforcement in natural fibre composites researched upon in recent times for semi structural application.