Compatibility study of binary mixture for surface modifications of natural fibers using ultrasonic technique at different frequencies

Abstract

The ultrasonic wave can be used to study the compatibility between the solvent mixtures. The selective mixture of organic compounds minimizes the lignin present in the surface of the natural fibers by which the modified fibers may enable to be filler for making of composites. In present paper, date palm leave (DPL) has been chosen as natural fiber whose surface is modified with mixture of methanol and acetone. The ultrasonic velocities are determined in binary mixtures of acetone and methanol with different frequencies (1 MHz, 3 MHz and 5 MHz) at temperature of 303 K. The different acoustic parameters like acoustic impedance, bulk modulus, intermolecular free length and compressibility are computed from the ultrasonic velocities and densities. The variations of these parameters are discussed in terms of different intermolecular interactions present in the solvent mixture. The compatibility of solvent mixtures is determined from the nature of excess values of thermo dynamical acoustic parameters. The interactions of selected solvent mixture with surface of the fiber have been investigated by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM).