Porosity and Fiber Orientation of Banana Fiber Nonwoven Webs Using Image Analysis Technique
Natural fibers including banana are gaining a lot of importance as reenforcement for manufacturing of composite materials. Banana fibers can be converted into nonwoven webs and can be utilized as reenforcement in composite material which will reduce the wastage of resourceful natural material. Poros...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis Group
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of Natural Fibers |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15440478.2021.1904478 |
| Summary: | Natural fibers including banana are gaining a lot of importance as reenforcement for manufacturing of composite materials. Banana fibers can be converted into nonwoven webs and can be utilized as reenforcement in composite material which will reduce the wastage of resourceful natural material. Porosity of the banana fiber webs can affect the composite manufacturing process as well as the thermal properties of the product. Fiber orientation has an impact on the strength of the composite material. In this research, porosity and orientation of wet-laid banana fiber nonwoven were determined using image analysis technique. Variables of fiber length and alkali treatment were studied for their effect on these properties. The porosity of the nonwoven web decreased with alkali treatment whereas no effect was observed under fiber length of 15 to 50 mm. The orientation of the fibers in the web was affected when increasing the length of fibers. In untreated fibers, randomness was observed for fiber lengths of 15 mm to 25 mm whereas nonrandom patterns started to appear in the fiber lengths of 50 mm. For alkali treated fibers, the nonrandom patterns were not observed in longer fibers also. This suggested that alkali treatment improved the randomness of the fibers in the web. |
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| ISSN: | 1544-0478 1544-046X |