Kenaf fibers offer the advantage of being renewable, biodegradable, and environmentally safe, but kenaf is difficult to process and spin because of its coarseness, stiffness, and the low cohesion of its fiber bundles. In this research, kenaf fibers are treated by a modified chemical degumming method to improve their properties. The finer and softer kenaf fiber bundles are easier to process than those in earlier studies. Treated kenaf fiber bundles are blended with Pima cotton and spun on a cotton processing system to yield blended 30/70 kenaf/cotton yarns. For comparison, 100 cotton yarn, 30/70 jute/cotton yarn, and 30/70 flax/cotton blended yarn are also prepared. The kenaf/cotton blended yarns are comparable to the jute/cotton and flax/cotton blends.
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