Influence of alkali treatment on the physical properties of jute fibre
Ranajit Kumar Nag, Andy Long and Michael J Clifford
Email: nag.ranajit@buft.edu.bd
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Abstract
It is well known that jute is a ligno-cellulosic fibre and it contains nearly 65% cellulose. Second and third major component of jute fibre are hemicellulose and lignin (around 12%each). Lignin is a natural adhesive and essential component of jute fibre. Jute fibre cell is very small in length (2.5-4 mm) which is called ‘jute ultimate’ and the fibre length is similarto the plant length. Lignin joins ultimates to form long jute fibre. Thus without lignin jute fibre loses textile properties. However cellulose possess superior physical properties than that of hemicellulose and lignin and hence researchers are trying to reduce hemicellulose and lignin to increase cellulose portion that would increase the physical properties of jute. Alkali treatment is a popular process to reduce those components. Realizing the fact, the influenceof alkali treatment with and without tension is studied in this work to understand the effect on the physical properties of jute fibre.