Activation energy and crystallization kinetics of untreated and treated oil palm fibre reinforced phenol formaldehyde composites

In this paper, oil palm fiber reinforced phenol formaldehyde (PF) treated, as well as untreated, composites have been taken for the study. The untreated sample (sample 1) contains oil palm fiber reinforced in the PF matrix, and the same fiber is treated with silane (sample 2) and with alkali (sample 3) to produce two types of treated fibers. These treated fibers were then reinforced in the matrix to produce two treated samples. Differential scanning calorimetry has been employed to study the crystallization kinetics and the energy of crystallization for all the samples. All the samples show the well-defined peaks of crystallization. In the case of silane-treated sample, double crystallization is observed. The crystallization data are analyzed in terms of a modified Kissinger's equation to determine the activation energy. The activation energy and other crystallization parameters have also been determined using Matusita's equation and are compared with the values obtained from other equations. It has also been found that various treatments have improved the thermal stability of the composites to different extents. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.