International Journal of Applied Engineering Research ISSN 0973-4562 Volume 11, Number 3 (2016) pp 1879-1882
© Research India Publications. http://www.ripublication.com
Development of Nonwovens from Natural Fibres for Various Applications
Indu G.K
Assistant Professor (Research Scholar), Department Fashion and Apparel Design,
The Oxford College of Science, Bangalore-560102, Karnataka, India.
Dr.SenthilKumar.P
Assistant Professor (Senior Grade), Department of Textile Technology,
PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore 64104, Tamil Nadu, India.
Ramamurthy has recently reported on the properties of
composites made from natural fibres, such as sisal, glass,
lyocell and jute. Mechanical properties of natural fibres have
been studied and related to their structure Fidele’s (2). The
cross sectional areas of the fiber were calculated using images
obtained in scanning electron microscope. As far as sisal
fibres are concerned, they showed a higher Weibull modulus
which is an indication that the variability of sisal fibres is low.
Silva et al (3) had studied the mechanical properties of sisal
fibres. Tensile tests were performed at gauge length ranging
from 10 to 40mm at a displacement of 0.1mm/min. The true
elastic modulus was computed by taking into account the
machine compliance. The authors also analyzed the fracture
mode of the fibre in terms of microstructure and defects.
There was a drop in elongation from 5.2 to 2.6% with the
increase in gauge length from 10 mm to 40 mm. Tensile
strength was found to be independent of the gauge length.
Average tensile strength and modulus of elasticity were
reported as 400MPa and 19GPa respectively at gauge length
of 40mm. The Weibull modulus decreased from 4.6 to 3.0
when gauge length increased from 10 to 40mm respectively.
Defoirdt et al (4) have studied the tensile strength of coir
fibers at different gauge lengths. The cross sectional area was
calculated by determining the weight and length of each fiber
from the average density of the fibre obtained by gas
pycnometer.
It was found that coir fiber had shown a tensile strength of
177MPa and a high elongation of 18.8%. The high elongation
is explained as due to the lower cellulose content (32-53%)
and high microfibrillar angle (30-49%).
Zafeiropoulous et al (5) have investigated the effect of surface
treatment on tensile strength of flax fibers. Aparna Roy et al
(6) have study the improvement of jute fibers properties by
alkali treatment. Thilagavathi et al (7) have developed natural
fibre nonwovens from bamboo, jute and blends containing
polypropylene with these fibres for application such as car
interiors for noise control.
Mir et al (12) have found that chemically treated coir fiber
strength is higher than that of untreated coir fibers. Tensile
strength of coir as given by Belas Ahmed khan (9) is 10g/tex
i.e. 147 Mpa.
Silva et al (10) have found an improvement in mechanical
properties of natural Brazilian coir fibre following treatment
with 5% NaoH for 48 hours. Also the properties and the
morphology of the natural Brazilian coir fiber were compared
with those of the Indian coir fiber.
Abstract
An investigation on the properties of needle punched
nonwovens made from sisal and sisal coir blends for the
purpose of assessing their suitability for the preparation of low
cost light weight doors is reported. First sisal and coir fibres
were tested for their mechanical properties and it was found
that the tensile strength values obtained were 577 MPa and
177 MPa which were in excellent agreement with those
reported in the literature. As regards mechanical properties
sisal nonwoven Fabric it was
found to be more compressible, stronger, but poor in
dimensional stability. Thermal resistance of sisal coir 70/30
blend was found to be higher than those of the other blends.
Air permeability of sisal/coir blend of comparison was found
to be more absorbent. Sound absorption of the all the three
nonwovens was found to be similar. Overall, it was found that
nonwoven fabric of 30/70 sisal/coir blend had exhibited many
desirable properties and may be considered as a suitable
candidate for light weight low cost doors.
Keywords: Sisal, coir, fibres, nonwoven fabrics tensile, air
permeability, sound absorption.
Introduction
The introduction of natural fibres such as sisal and coir has led
to polymer composites which can be used for various
applications. Coir is obtained from coconut husks using a
process known as retting. Retting is basically a biological
process where coconut husks are soaked in saline water for
about 8-10 months to facilitate easy fibre extraction.
Normally, wet husks are beaten with a wooden hammer to
remove the fibres from the adherent pithy material. Sisal
fibres are expensive in comparison to coir. The potential use
of natural fibers like sisal and coir as a nonwoven material is
hindered by the lack of availability of scientific data on these
fibres.
There have been a number of studies on the mechanical
properties of sisal and coir fibers as affected by their
morphology and structure. On the mechanical properties of
coir fibres, a great deal of work has been done. Kulkarni et al
(1 ) have tested the fiber strength of coir at different gauge
lengths and calculated Weibull modulus. Needle punching
technology is the most ideal one for converting unspinnable
fibres such as sisal and coir.
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International Journal of Applied Engineering Research ISSN 0973-4562 Volume 11, Number 3 (2016) pp 1879-1882
© Research India Publications. http://www.ripublication.com
method, a nonwoven fabric of 52 inches width and 2 ½ meters
length was produced.
Mechanical properties of sisal and coir fiber are quoted as 468
and 175 MPa by Girisha, Sangeetha Murthy, and Gunti Ranga
Srinivas (11)
The present work presents a systematic study the mechanical
properties of sisal and coir fibres and nonwoven fabrics
produced from sisal, and sisal coir blends in two proportions
70:30 and 30:70 keeping in mind their applications.
Preparation of Sisal/Coir Blended Fabric: The 5 inch long
sisal and coir fibers were cut and weighed. 7 kg of Sisal fibre
of Coir fiber were mixed manually, and then fed into the
needle punching machine to produce nonwoven fabric which
was 52 inch wide and 2 ½ meter long. The same procedure
was repeated for 3kg of sisal and 7 kg of coir and the blending
was done.
Materials and Methods
Materials: Sisal fibers were extracted from the leaf of the
plant Agave sisalana by a mechanical process called
decortication. In this process the leaves are crushed by a
rotating wheel with blunt knives where only the fibres prevail.
Decorticated fibres were dried under the sun light. The dried
fibres are combed by the machine and classified in several
grades largely on the basis on separation of leaves into group
of different sizes.
The coir fibers were extracted from coir shell. This process of
extracting the fibre is traditionally made by retting and
decortication, production of nonwoven fabric.
Production of nonwoven fabrics: Sisal fibres produced from
Tumkur district, Karnataka were considered for current study.
The coir fibers are collected from Central Institute of Coir
Technology, Coir Board Bangalore.
Methods:
Tensile Testing of Fibers: The preparation of the specimen
was carried out according to ASTMC-1557, Tensile tests were
performed on Intron tensile tester 5500R with a gauge length
of 100mm. For the each type of fibre, 15 tests were made and
the average was taken.
Test Methods: Standard test procedures were used to measure
the physical properties of nonwoven fabrics: ASTM D 6242
for areal density in gram per square metre (mass per unit
area); ASTM D 5736 for thickness; ASTM D 1388 for
flexural rigidity; ASTM D 5035 for tensile properties of
breaking strength/ elongation; ASTM D 737 for air
permeability and thermal conductivity by Lee’s method
(Baxter’s) ASTM 6767 for porosity; ASTM D 3676 bursting
strength; Water absorbency AATCC-22;
Sisal: The processing of the raw sisal was carried out very
meticulously. After cutting the Sisal leaves from the plant the
thorns were removed and the leaves were made to pass
through a set of crushing rollers. The leaves were held firmly
at their center and the pulp was scraped off from the edges by
the roller blades. The exposed sisal fibers were then separated
washed and dried. The fiber strands were graded based on the
maturity and then sorted based on length and color. Long
Fiber strands were cut into a staple length of 6˝ inches. Staple
fibres were straightened and parallelized by the mechanical
process of carding. Carding also helps in removing foreign
particles such as dust, sand and leaf bits.
Testing of Fabrics:
Porosity: Porosity was calculated using the following formula
Porosity(1 −
𝜌𝑓𝑎𝑏
𝜌𝑓𝑖𝑏
) ∗ 100, where𝜌𝑓𝑎𝑏 is fabric bulk density
and 𝜌𝑓𝑖𝑏 is fibre density. The fibre density varies depending
on materials used.
Friction: Friction of non-woven fabric on stains steel was
measured following inclined plane method.
Needle punching: The carded fabric was processed next using
felting looms. These needle looms have one to four needle
boards and needles from the top or from bottom or from top
and bottom. The primary function of this type of loom is to
perform interlocking of fibers resulting in a flat, onedimensional fabric. This was carried out on a machine. To
create uniform parallelized sisal and coir fabric, the fibers
were put into the bale and then needle punching of fiber was
performed. This is essentially a mechanical intertwining of
fiber by a number of needles which passes in and out of the
carded fiber. A thin tangled web was created by this process.
As mentioned in the introduction, three different proportions
of the fibers were created using this method, namely;
 Sample 1: Sisal 100%
 Sample 2: Sisal/Coir 70:30%
 Sample 3: Sisal/Coir 30:70%.
Thermal Conductivity: Thermal conductivity was measured
by Lee’s disc method. The average of five tests was taken.
Thermal Resistance: Thermal resistance was calculated by
using the following formula.
ℎ
Thermal resistance = where h is thickness and ƛ is thermal
𝑊
ƛ
conductivity (𝑚.𝑘 )
Scanning electron microscopy was used to study the surface
characteristics of fibres.
Compression of nonwovens: These test were done in
accordance with DIN-EN-29073
Sound Absorption: The impedance tube method was used to
determine the normal incident sound absorption co-efficient
and normal specific acoustic impedance ratios of all
nonwoven samples. An impedance tube was used with sound
source (loud speaker) connected at one end and the test
Preparation of Sisal Fabric: The Sisal Fibers were first cut
into 5 inch long pieces. Then the 5 inch fibers were then fed
into the Needle Punching machine (Felting Loom). Using this
1880
International Journal of Applied Engineering Research ISSN 0973-4562 Volume 11, Number 3 (2016) pp 1879-1882
© Research India Publications. http://www.ripublication.com
sample mounted to another end. The loud speaker generates
the broad band random sound waves; Sound waves
propagating as plane waves in the tube hit the samples, get
partially absorbed and subsequently reflected. The acoustical
properties of the test sample were tested in the frequency of
80-9500Hz. The mean value for the six samples was taken.
Sound absorption coefficient was measured following ASTM
E1050 method. The ability of the nonwoven material to
absorb unwanted noise is based on the dissipation of the
sound wave energy upon passing though the material and
being directed by the fibres and also on the conversion of
some of the energy into heat. Absorption coefficient is the
amount of original energy less the remaining unabsorbed
energy compared to the original energy.
Tensile strength (kg)
length wise
2.2
Width wise
5.2
Elongation (%)
Length wise
47.5
Width wise
25.5
Flexural rigidity (g.cm)
308
Bursting strength (kg/cm2)
22.6
Compression (g)
92
Dimensional stability (%)
12.5
Air permeability (cm3/cm2/sec) 380
Coefficient of friction
0.401
Absorbency (s)
11.2
Mean flow pore diameter
427.86
Bubble point diameter
719.53
Porosity (%)
33
𝑊
Thermal conductivity ( ) 0.035
Pore size analysis: This was done in accordance ASTM 6767.
Thermal resistance (
Sound abortion (%)
Results and Discussion
Fibre Properties
𝑚.𝑘
𝑚2.𝑘
𝑊
)
2.4
4.2
0.87
1.0
55
35
320
18.5
173
1.56
425
0.298
11
398.92
659.83
94
0.031
57
29
168
19.1
171
3.25
545
0.345
26.8
511.31
659.83
96
0.30
0.283
0.355
0.375
9.5
9.7
9.6
Kulkarni et al (1) quote a value of 162 MPa of coir tested at a
gauge length of 65 mm. The value of 511MPa obtained for
sisal compares favorably with the value of 400MPa quoted by
Silva et al. Batra (8) quotes a value of 1.8g/tex for coir which
is equivalent to 180 MPa.
Table 1: Sisal and Coir Properties
Properties
Sisal
Coir
Mean breaking strength(MPa) 511
175
(± 91.57 ) (± 57.22)
Energy (gf-mm)
2896-3802 2510.65-3826.9
(± 453.26) (± 657.97)
CV% Strength
31.96
35.96
Mean Elongation (%)
7.63
9.78
CV% elongation
21.64
30.75
Wax content %
0.23
Moisture content %
10.119
11.25
Density ( g/cc)
1.036
1.4
Ash content (%)
5.62
2.22
Area (mm2)
0.023
0.052
Air permeability: Table 2 presents data the fabric properties
from which it is apparent that 100% sisal is characterized by
low value of air permeability where 30% sisal 70% coir blend
has a higher value. These differences are due to the variation
in mass and thickness of fabrics.
Tensile properties: It is apparent that the tensile strength of
the fabrics in the machine direction is lower than that of cross
direction. Elongation also follows the same trend. Tensile
strength in machine direction is found to be closely related to
fiber strength. Thus 100% sisal nonwoven fabric shows higher
strength while coir rich blend displays lower strength. Since
coir fibre has a higher elongation in comparison to sisal, this
is reflected in the elongation of coir rich blend namely 30%
sisal and 70% coir.
Flexural rigidity shows a lower value in 30% sisal and 70%
coir while the values are almost similar for 100% sisal and
70% sisal and 30% coir. Nonwoven fabric made of 100% sisal
is stiffer Bursting strength shows a higher value for 100%
sisal and coir blends. Thus is due to the higher fibre strength
of sisal fibre (511 MPa) in comparison to coir (175MPa).
Figure 1: Illustrates SEM micrographs of Sisal &Coir
Fabric properties: Table 2 shows the tensile strength of sisal
and coir fibres from which it is apparent that sisal fiber
exhibits higher tensile strength in comparison with coir.
Elongation of coir fiber is higher than that of sisal fibre. These
values agree with those quoted by other research workers.
Compression: Compressional data shows some interesting
results, While 100% sisal fabric is more compressible, the
remaining two 70% sisal and 30% coir and 30% sisal and 70%
coir are less compressible.
Table 2: Fabric Properties
Dimensional stability: While dimensional stability is poor for
100% sisal nonwoven fabric it is better for sisal /coir blends.
Physical properties
Areal density (g/m2 )
Thickness( mm)
100 sisal 70:30
30:70
Sisal/Coir Coir/Sisal
686
598
542
9.93
11.02
11.54
Coefficient of friction: Sisal nonwoven fabric shows a higher
value while blends containing coir and sisal show the opposite
values. These may be due to greater area of contact for sisal
fibre.
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International Journal of Applied Engineering Research ISSN 0973-4562 Volume 11, Number 3 (2016) pp 1879-1882
© Research India Publications. http://www.ripublication.com
Thermal conductivity: It is interesting note that while sisal
fabric shows higher thermal conductivity, the sisal coir blends
show lower values. The thermal resistance values calculated
from thermal conductivity and thickness are given which
demonstrate that sisal /coir blends have higher thermal
resistance in comparison to sisal. The higher thermal
conductivity of sisal is due to lower porosity.
References
[1]
[2]
Absorbency: It is clearer that the nonwoven fabric made from
30% sisal and 70% coir has shown a higher absorbency. This
is due to the highest moisture content of the coir namely is
12.3% as against the moisture content of sisal which is
10.339%.
[3]
Pore size analysis: Coir exhibits higher mean flow pore
diameter in comparison to the other two fabrics. Bubble point
diameter shows higher value for 100% sisal fabric. These will
have for researching effects on wicking.
[4]
Sound absorption: Sound absorption values are similar for all
the fabrics studied.
[5]
Conclusion
[6]
The following conclusions emerge out of the study
1. Sisal fiber has a higher tensile strength than that of
coir. Coir has higher moisture content and elongation
2. Sound absorption values are similar for all the
nonwoven fabrics.
3. While air permeability is low for 100% sisal the values
shown increase sisal coir fabrics.
4. Bursting strength of 100% sisal fabric is higher than
those of other blends.
5. Coir rich blend shows greater propensity for wicking.
6. While more diameters is higher for coir rich nonwoven
fabric the other two sample shown lower a values.
7. Bubble point diameter is higher for sisal in comparison
to the coir sisal blends.
8. Tensile strength in machine direction is lower than that
of transverse direction for all nonwoven fabrics and
100% sisal shows a minimum value. Coir rich blend
shows lower value.
9. Compression strength is lower for sisal while sisal coir
blends show higher values. Thus sisal fabric is more
compressible.
10. Coefficient of friction of sisal is greater than those of
blends containing sisal and coir.
11. Thermal conductivity of 100% sisal nonwoven fabric
is significantly higher than those of sisal /coir blends.
12. Of all the fabrics thermal resistance of 30% sisal and
70% coir is higher.
13. Dimensional stability of 100% sisal is poor.
[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
Over all it may be concluded that 30% sisal and 70% coir
blend exhibits better properties in comparison to the other two
non-woven fabrics.
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