Banana leaf fibers

Various reports are present in the literature on the usage of cellulose fibers in the preparation of composites. Cellulose fibers like banana, sisal, oil palm, jute, pine apple leaf fiber were found to have a very good reinforcing effect on polymer matrices [38 2]. The mechanical properties and water absorption were found to be dependent on the amount of micro-fibrils. 

Such an approach to fiber classification appears to be systematic and objective. Unfortunately, plants do not always follow the pattern of roots, trunk, leaves, seed, or fruit. There are anomalies. For example, the banana-like plants, yielding abaca, do not have the woody trunk conventionally associated with other plants. Instead, its stem consists of layers of thick, crescentshaped (in cross section) sheaths wrapped around each other they reduce to spindly growths that unfurl from the stem and become the thick central stems of fronds (see Section 8.2.1). Botanically, the sheath-frond system is called a leaf consequently, the fiber extracted from the sheath is classified as leaf fiber. On the other hand, sisal or henequen fibers come from the swordlike leaves of their respective plants. Bagasse (from sugarcane) fiber, used for paper or fiberboard, comes from the stem, which is neither a leaf nor a woody trunk. Thus, the classification of fibers as seed, bast, leaf, or miscellaneous fibers is somewhat arbitrary. 

Manila Musa textilis) is related to the banana plant and grows mainly in the East Indies. Sisal is obtained in India and Mexico from a kind of agave. Both are leaf fibers and not stalk fibers as in the case of hemp and flax. 

The bast and leaf fibers give mechanical support to the plant s stem and leaf, respectively. Bast consists of a wood core surrounded by stem, and within the stem, there are a numbers of fiber bundles, each containing individual fiber cells or filaments. The bast fibers such as, hemp, flax, jute, kenaf, and ramie are usually grown in warm climates. The leaf fibers, such as sisal, abaca, banana, and henequen, are coarser than bast fibers. The seed-hair fibers, such as cotton, coir, and milkweed, are attached to the plant s seeds [68]. 

Leaf fibers sisal, pineapple, banana, and henequen obtained from the leaves... 

The density of sisal fiber varies from 1.35 to 1.45 g/cm. Literature shows that sisal fiber exhibits tensile strength in the range of 400-700 MPa, which is nearly similar to many commercially used natural fiber such as jute, flax, banana, and sun hemp. Therefore, we can use sisal for commercial application as we can use jute, flax, banana, pineapple leaf fiber, etc. The mechanical properties of some of the natural fibers and other mineral fibers are shown in Table 22.4. 

There are several different classifications in terms of plant fibers. While the classification of Nishino [59] includes seven groups as bast (soft) fibers (flax, hemp, jute), leaf (hard) fibers (sisal, abaca, pineapple, etc.), stem fibers (bamboo, banana stalk, corn stalk), fruit fibers (coconut), seed fibers (cotton, baobab, kapok), straw fibers (rice, wheat, corn), and others (seaweeds, palm), that of Faruk et al. [3] has six groups bast fibers (jute, flax, hemp), leaf fibers (abaca, sisal and pineapple), seed fibers (coir, cotton and kapok), core fibers (kenaf, hemp and jute), grass and reed fibers (wheat, corn and rice) and all other types (wood and roots). 

Leaf fibers Pineapple, Banana, Sisal, Pine, Abaca (Manila hemp), Curaua, Agaves, Cabuja, Henequen, Date-palm, African palm. Raffia, New Zealand flax, Isora Seed (hairs) fibers Cotton, Kapok, Coir, Baobab, Milkweed Stalk fibers Bamboo, Bagasse, Banana stalk, Cork stalk Fruit fibers Coconut, Oil palm Wood fibers Hardwood, Softwood... 

Seeds fiber cotton, kapok fiber Bast fiber flax, ramie, hemp, jute, apocynum, pineapple leaf fiber, coconut fiber, banana fiber, bamboo fiber, lotus fiber... 

Abaca. The abaca fiber is obtained from the leaves of the banana-like plant (same genus) Musa textilis (banana family, Musaceae). The fiber is also called Manila hemp from the port of its first shipment, although it has no relationship with hemp, a bast fiber. The mature plant has 12—20 stalks growing from its rhizome root system the stalks are 2.6—6.7 m tall and 10—20 cm thick at the base. The stalk has leaf sheaths that expand iato leaves 1—2.5 m long, 10—20 cm wide, and 10 mm thick at the center the fibers are ia the outermost layer. The plant produces a crop after five years, and 2—4 stalks can be harvested about every six months. 

Hemp is made from the bast fibers of Cannabis sativa. This is a larger plant than flax, and produces much coarser fibers. Abaca or Manila hemp is very different from plain hemp. Abaca is made from Musa textilis, commonly called the fiber banana plant. The core fibers of the leaf sheaths of this plant are resistant to salt water, which makes them useful for rope and fabric to be used at sea. It is also used to make handicrafts such as hats and household items. Paper made from abaca has a wide variety of uses, including paper currency (i.e. Japanese yen notes), sausage casings, industrial filters, and tea bags. The finest grade abaca is woven into a cloth called pinukpok. 

Chapters 2-10 discuss in detail the different properties of natural lignocellulosic fibers, their processing and fabrication of polymer composites. Chapter 11 summarizes the structure, chemistry and properties of different agro-residual fibers such as wheat straw corn stalk, cob and husks okra stem banana stem, leaf, bxmch reed stalk nettle pineapple leaf sugarcane oil palm bunch and coconut husk along with their processing. 

Natural fibers vary widely in chemical composition, stmcture, and dimension and are obtained from different parts of the plants. Natural fibers, such as jute, ramie, flax, kenaf, and hemp are obtained from the stem abaca, sisal, banana and pineapple from the leaf cotton, coir, and kapok from the seed grass, and reed fibers (com, rice, and wheat) [4]. Climatic conditions, age, and fiber extraction... 

G. Manilahanf, Abaka F. chanvre de Manille M. is a member of the banana family. The fibers are obtained from its sheathing leaf bases. It is the... 

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