Production and characterization of carbonized chicken feather fiber / epoxy composites

Chicken feathers (CFs) being wasted in agriculture have potential to be a great feedstock for the synthesis of advanced materials due to the massive amounts of feathers. In Turkey, 30.000 tons of feathers per year were disposed by the poultry industry. CFs are composed of keratin and small amount of lipids and therefore they are considered a type of hollow protein fiber. When heated, their hollowness due to the crystal segments results in a highly porous cross-linked structure with a relatively low density. The aim of the heating or, in other words, carbonization process is to obtain maximum carbon content as possible as it is, thereby enhancing the properties of the produced fibers to be utilized as filler constituent in polymers, so that a remarkable improvement for thermal and mechanical properties in the resulting composites can be reasonably achieved. In the first part of this study, CCFFs are considered a good alternative to carbon nanotubes (CNTs) which have aroused the most attraction as reinforcement constituent for polymers due to their extraordinary mechanical, electrical and thermal properties. Following indication of melting and decomposition temperatures of the CFs using MDSC and TGA, respectively, different pyrolysis cycles under optimum experimental conditions will be performed on CFs in order to turn them into CCFFs properly. Characterization of the CCFFs will be carried out, using Scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) will be properly used to gain an insight into formation of chemical functional groups, together with structure and surface characteristic of the produced CCFFs. In the second part of this study, at very low loading rates, (0.1, 0.5 and 1 wt. %), amino-silanized via (3-Aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTS) and non-silanized CCFFs will be homogenously dispersed within RTM 6 epoxy resin using high shear microprocessor and the composites will be obtained afterwards. The produced composites will be investigated using MDSC, TGA and Dynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA).