Characterization of Chicken Feather Materials for Use in Biocomposites

摘要

Materials derived from chicken feathers could be used to improve the properties of existing composite materials, to replace non-renewable constituents, or to develop entirely new biocomposite materials with novel applications. To aid the development of biocomposite prototype materials, the fundamental properties of processed chicken feather materials (CFM), including chicken feather fiber and quill fractions, were characterized. Separation of processed chicken feathers was found to yield between 60% and 95% feather fiber, indicating that processing regimes may be tailored to yield more or less of a particular fraction, but that the feather fiber is more abundant than quill. The apparent specific gravities of various CFM samples and feather fractions measured between 0.9 and 1.2, with the feather fiber fraction being slightly denser than the quill fraction. The moisture contents of environmentally conditioned feather fractions were determined to be between 16% and 20%, relative to their oven dry masses, indicating that moisture content should be considered when developing processing methods and when examining durability of CFM-based composite materials. Preliminary chemical durability studies showed that CFM degrades rapidly in alkaline environments, indicating incompatibility with cementitious matrices. Significantly less degradation was observed in near-neutral and slightly acidic solutions. Thermal analysis data indicates glass transition temperatures for CFM between 220°C and 255°C; CFM should be used in service at temperatures well below these