Abstract
Banana fibers obtained from the stem of banana plant (Musa
sapientum) have been characterised for their diameter variability and their
mechanical properties, with a stress on fracture morphology. The nature of representative stress strain curves and fracture at different strain rates have been analysed
through SEM.
Introduction
Natural fibers present important advantages such as low
density, appropriate stiffness and mechanical properties and high disposability
and renewability. Moreover, they are recyclable and biodegradable. There has
been lot of research on use of natural fibers in reinforcements. Banana fiber,
a ligno-cellulosic fiber, obtained from the pseudo-stem of banana plant (Musa
sepientum), is a bast fiber with relatively good mechanical properties.
The "pseudo-stem" is a clustered, cylindrical
aggregation of leaf stalk bases. Banana fiber at present is a waste product of banana cultivation and either not properly utilized or partially done so. The
extraction of fiber from the pseudostem is not a common practice and much of
the stem is not used for production of fibers. This is reflected from the
relatively expensive price of banana fibres (Table I) when compared to
other natural fibres. The buyers for banana fibers are erratic and there is no
systematic way to extract the fibres regularly. Useful applications of such
fibres would regularize the demand which would be reflected in a fall of the prices.
Price of different
natural fibres
|
Natural Fibre
|
Price($/kg)
|
|
Flax
|
0.15-0.21
|
|
Hemp
|
0.15-0.60
|
|
Kenaf
|
0.15-0.30
|
|
Banana
|
0.43-0.81*
|
*The price at which the author sourced the fibers from two
different places in India.
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About the Authors:
The authors: Samrat Mukhopadhyay and Raul Fangueiro are
associated with the University of Minho, Portugal and Yusuf Arpa and lk
Şentrk are associated with the Ege University, Turkey.
The
article was originally published in Journal of Engineered Fibers and Fabrics
Volume 3, Issue 2-2008 http://www.jeffjournal.org