Characteristics of sugarcane fibres

Abstract

Sugarcane fibres have been extracted from bagasse by 0.1 N NaOH treatment and their characteristics are evaluated. The fibres show moderate crystallinity, with crystallinity index in the range 63- 68%. The SEM photographs reveal that the fibre is composed of bundle of cells encrusted by cementing material, outside bundles are composed mainly of short thin walled parenchyma cells. The fineness of fibre varies between 25tex and 35tex . The moisture regain of fibre lies betwee 13% and 18%. The tenacity of the fibres lies between 12 g/tex and 18 g/tex and the percentage breaking elongation varies between 2.5% and 3.5%. The fibre possesses moderate amount of elastic recovery at 50% of breaking extension. The torsional rigidity of fibres is quiet high ranging between 95 dyne-cm²and 330dyne-cm², indicating that the fibre has high rigidity to twisting and is not suitable for making yarn. The flexural rigidity of fibres is quite low ranging from 0.015 g cm² to 0.032 g cm².