ISOLATION OF MALU FIBERS AND DEVELOPMENT OF A NOVEL BLENDED FABRIC FROM MALU-VISCOSE

摘要

In India majority of traditionally used fiber yielding plants remain underutilized because they are either considered as waste or being utilized for noncommercial purposes. Therefore it is necessary to explore the possible commercial application of the natural fiber yielding plants as this would help in improving the socio-economic status by supporting livelihood and income generation opportunity. With this objective a novel greyed orange coloured fiber was extracted from the bark of Malu plant (Bauhinia vahlii) by different standard methods (scraping, water retting, fungal retting, acid and alkali retting with different concentrations and durations). On the basis of their effect on tenacity, elongation and fineness, alkali retting method was selected as the best method for extraction of fibers from Malu stem. The present invention reports that when Malu fibre was blended with viscose rayon, a novel Malu-viscose blended fabric, having unique texture and natural colour was prepared which can be used for making decorative articles, furnishing fabrics.