Fabrication and characterization of chicken feather fiber-reinforced polymer composites

Abstract This study investigated how sodium chloride (NaCl) and ethanol treatment on chicken keratin fiber reinforcement affected the physical, mechanical, and thermal properties of vinyl ester polymer composites. The ethanol-treated chicken keratin fiber-reinforced vinyl ester bio-composite exhibited a higher value of tensile, flexural, compression, and impact properties when compared with the salt solution-treated and raw chicken keratin fiber. This may be attributed to the uniform dispersion, strong interfacial bonding between matrix/fiber, and ethanol producing overlapped microtubes on the keratin surface, as observed from scanning electron microscope images. The chemically treated keratin fibers acted as a nucleating agent for the recrystallization of vinyl ester bio-composites and improved decomposition temperature by 5.62% and 7.86% for sodium chloride and ethanol treatment, respectively, as seen in DSC and TGA curves. Furthermore, it is capable of offering favorable properties for real-time biomedical applications.