Recent research focused to produce lignocellulose-polymer
composites of good quality performance, showed that the
composite’s substrate type as well as its weight fraction were
important factors in determining properties of the composites
[1-3]. Natural fibers are a useful class of materials; because
of their natural origin, they are environmentally clean,
renewable, and biodegradable resources [4]. Fibers can be
readily obtained by recycling agro-based products such as
waste paper, wood, and rice hulls from a rice-processing
plant, and sunflower and sunflower seed hulls from an oil
processing unit.
The most successful application of the water Hyacinth
(Eichhornea crassipes) has been in the sewage water
treatments for nutrient removal and retention of particles
[5,6]. In contrast, water Hyacinth presents environmental
and economic problems; in natural water sources such as
rivers and canals have serious water pollution problems due
to widespread growth of the water hyacinth plant which is a
wild plant absorbs more than 60 % of water [7].
In relation to other fibers, the water hyacinth has a high
percentage of holocellulose that is an advantage in its
applications as a reinforcing material [8]. Thus synthetic
polymers could be reinforced with various natural fillers,
such as water hyacinth in order to improve the physicomechanical
properties, and obtain the characteristics demanded
in definite applications [9,10].
Therefore, from the date mentioned above, the purpose of
this research is to find an alternative application of water
hyacinths. Thus, the ground water hyacinth was used
together with unsaturated polyester to produce lignocellulosepolymer
composites. The effect of the water hyacinth fiber
in the composites on their thermal and mechanical properties
was investigated using differential scanning calorimetry
(DSC). Furthermore, a structural analysis was carried out by
fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR).