Kenaf fibre treatment for yarn development and reinforced composite: A review

摘要

Natural (plant) fibre become main concern for replacing synthetic fibre in product development. There are many application of the natural fibre product such as automotive interior lining, upholstery stuffing, electronic packaging and egg-boxes. Many natural fibre has been explored such as kenaf, flax, hemp, jute, ramie, nettle, sisal, henequen, banana, oil palm EFB, oil palm mesocarp, cotton, coir, cereal straw and bagasse. The most potential natural fibre i.e. kenaf fibre due to high cellulose content (cellulose sources). Therefore, kenaf fibre was challenging to explore in terms of retting process, yarn and composite development. This paper focus on retting process where it was conducted by several chemical agent such as Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH), Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) and enzymatic with pectinase. NaOH become common chemical agent and 6% of concentration become an optimum parameter for improving flexural, tensile and impact strength.