Production of banana fiber yarns for technical textile reinforced composites

Natural fibers have been used as an alternative to synthetic ones for their greener character; banana fibers have the advantage of coming from an agricultural residue. Fibers have been extracted by mechanical means from banana tree pseudostems, as a strategy to valorize banana crops residues. To inc...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Ortega, Zaida, Morón Soler, Moises|||0000-0002-6763-1750, Monzón, Mario D., Badalló, Pere, Paz, Rubén
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2016
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/100963
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/100963
https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ma9050370
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Plant fibers
Composite materials
Banana fibers
Enzymatic treatment
Yarn
Composites
Reinforcement
Sustainability
Fibres vegetals
Teixits i tèxtils tècnics
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria tèxtil::Fibres tèxtils::Fibres naturals
Descripción
Sumario:Natural fibers have been used as an alternative to synthetic ones for their greener character; banana fibers have the advantage of coming from an agricultural residue. Fibers have been extracted by mechanical means from banana tree pseudostems, as a strategy to valorize banana crops residues. To increase the mechanical properties of the composite, technical textiles can be used as reinforcement, instead of short fibers. To do so, fibers must be spun and woven. The aim of this paper is to show the viability of using banana fibers to obtain a yarn suitable to be woven, after an enzymatic treatment, which is more environmentally friendly. Extracted long fibers are cut to 50 mm length and then immersed into an enzymatic bath for their refining. Conditions of enzymatic treatment have been optimized to produce a textile grade of banana fibers, which have then been characterized. The optimum treating conditions were found with the use of Biopectinase K (100% related to fiber weight) at 45 °C, pH 4.5 for 6 h, with bath renewal after three hours. The first spinning trials show that these fibers are suitable to be used for the production of yarns. The next step is the weaving process to obtain a technical fabric for composites production.