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Separation of ultimate and technical esparto grass fibres: comparison between extraction methods

2010; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 101; Issue: 12 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00405000903230267

1754-2340

Imed Ben Marzoug, Faouzi Sakli, Sadok Roudesli,

Textile materials and evaluations

Esparto grass fibres are used as cordage or paper pulp. Ultimate and technical fibres used in pulp or cords have specific characteristics. Technical fibres have higher mechanical properties. However, ultimate fibres have a higher cellulosic rate, hence higher absorbency and retention capacity. To produce ultimate fibres, we must look for an appropriate method of extraction. In this paper, a method of extraction that gives cellulosic fibres without any damage is investigated and a comparison with other methods is also made. The structure of esparto grass technical fibres is discontinuous, where cellulosic fibres are found in matrix which contains pectin, lignin and hemicelluloses. The ultimate fibres from esparto grass have a length between 0, 2 and 3 mm and a diameter between 6 and 22 µm. This shows that ultimate fibres are very short; however, they have very interesting features. The chosen extraction method has many specifications: protecting properties using a combined method which is accomplished in a short time and which takes the ecological impact into consideration. In this work different stages are followed to obtain cellulosic fibres. These fibres are then characterised through several analyses such as scanning electron microscopy, X‐ray diffraction, diameter and rate of lignin elimination.