Properties of Borassus Fruit Fiber

Abstract

Borassus fruit fiber is a waste material from Borassus flour production, which is popular in Phetchaburi province, Thailand.  Natural fiber developments for textile industry create value added benefits of agricultural waste material and increase farmers’ income.  This paper focused on Borassus fruit fibers by studying their important properties such as physical, chemical, mechanical and structural aspects when they were scoured and bleached.  They were determined according to ASTM standard and SEM, XRD and FTIR instruments were used.  Highlight properties of fibers indicated that fibers consisted of three main components namely, α-cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin.  When they were scoured and bleached, results showed that the percentage of α-cellulose was increased on scoured and bleached fibers but the percentage of hemicellulose and lignin was decreased.  The crystallinity of untreated fiber was 67.16% and it was increased to 68.97% and 71.50% when the fibers were scoured and bleached respectively.  Fiber diameter, length and linear density after scouring and bleaching were reduced.  Tensile strength property was increased on scoured fiber but it was decreased on bleached fiber.  For fiber surface morphology, we found that scoured and bleached fibers were cleaner than untreated fiber and numerous pores or pits were revealed on bleached fiber surface.