Bleaching ramie

Bleached ramie-cellulose Unbleached ramie-cellulose — ... 

The microscopic appearance of ramie fibres is similar to that of flax but they are coarser and have a wider lumen as illustrated in Fig. 4.4. Bleached ramie is white and lustrous and is extremely durable but lacks flexibility and elasticity. It also has a peculiar hairiness which, whilst enabling it to... 

Ramie is used to make ropes, strings, and fishing nets. It is also used for textiles in the East either alone or with other fibres. In China it is used for making grass cloth and white summer cloth . It can be bleached to a good white and dyes quite satisfactorily with all the cotton dyes. 

Plants are very attractive and potential sources of cellulose primarily because they are abundant and relatively cheap to harvest. Cellulose can be extracted from lignocellulosic fibers, which are available aU over the world. A wide variety of plant materials like cotton, ramie, sisal, flax, wheat straw, tubers, sugar beet, soya bean, etc., are known for cellulose microfibril production. Wood is another main important source of extracting cellulose fibrils, where cellulose microfibrils were reinforced by intracellular amorphous materials made of hemicelluloses, lignin, resin, etc. Extraction of pure cellulose microfibrils from these lignocelluloseic materials involves chemical treatments such as alkali extraction and bleaching. 

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