Vattathurvalappil Suhail Hyder, Shaukat Mian Mobeen, Theravalappil Rajesh, Shuja Shahzada Zaman, Abdelrahman Wael Gamaleldin
Department of Aerospace Engineering, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia.
Interdisciplinary Research Center for Advanced Materials, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia.
Polymers (Basel). 2024 Feb 29;16(5):662. doi: 10.3390/polym16050662.
A combination of thermoplastics and natural fiber reinforcements is considered an ideal choice to mitigate environmental impacts and enhance recyclability or reusability. Chemical treatments are often employed to enhance the thermomechanical properties of natural fiber-reinforced plastics. Nevertheless, it is of paramount importance to assess the techno-economic impact of such chemical treatments and environmentally friendly materials for their implementation in mass productions on an industrial scale. In this work, high-density polyethylene is reinforced with sodium hydroxide (NaOH)-treated and untreated flax fibers to study its impact on mechanical and environmental properties. The composites treated with NaOH exhibited a 37% increase in tensile strength. However, life cycle assessment performed on the NaOH-treated samples showed that they had a global warming potential of 5.8 kg of CO, a terrestrial acidification potential of 0.0269 kg of SO, and a human carcinogenic toxicity of 0.031 kg of 1,4-DCB compared to the untreated samples. In summary, the techno-environmental analysis reveals a novel approach to identifying chemical treatments based on their technical and environmental effects.
热塑性塑料和天然纤维增强材料的组合被认为是减轻环境影响、提高可回收性或再利用性的理想选择。化学处理通常用于提高天然纤维增强塑料的热机械性能。然而，评估此类化学处理和环保材料在工业规模大规模生产中的技术经济影响至关重要。在这项工作中，用氢氧化钠（NaOH）处理和未处理的亚麻纤维增强高密度聚乙烯，以研究其对机械性能和环境性能的影响。用NaOH处理的复合材料的拉伸强度提高了37%。然而，对用NaOH处理的样品进行的生命周期评估表明，与未处理的样品相比，它们的全球变暖潜能值为5.8千克二氧化碳，陆地酸化潜能值为0.0269千克二氧化硫，人类致癌毒性为0.031千克1,4-二氯苯。总之，技术环境分析揭示了一种基于化学处理的技术和环境影响来识别它们的新方法。
