Morphological, Thermal, and Mechanical Characterization of Sansevieria trifasciata Fibers

Abstract

Sansevieria trifasciata is a common perennial plant which freely grows and widely found in homes, parks, and woodlands. In this research, we studied the morphology using Scanning Electron Microscope and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR); thermal properties using Thermogravimetric (TGA) and Differential Scanning Calorimetric (DSC) analyses; mechanical behavior through tensile tests of Sansevieria trifasciata fiber (STF) obtained from Butaleja in Eastern Uganda. Findings show that the fiber has an irregular cross-sectional shape with lumens in the center, the fiber diameter was between 80 and 120 μm. TGA tests showed that the fiber is stable below 200◦C with maximum cellulose decomposition temperature of 315◦C. DSC showed that the fiber’s crystallization temperature was 310.5◦C and lignin decomposition temperature of 372.7◦C. The surface functional groups were majorly of cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin in direct correlation with research elsewhere on natural fibers.