Abstract:
This study presents the characteristics of Lasia spinosa fibres (LSFs) extracted from the rhizome of the Lasia spinosa (L.) Thwaites (LS), a plant which is commonly available in the Asian region as a medicinal plant which has not been investigated previously with the intension of exploring the feasibility in developing a textile material. Two common species, Lamina dissected type and Sagittate type plant rhizome fibres were investigated with the use of fibre characterization tools and methods. Mechanical extraction and Alkali extraction methods were followed in extracting fibres from rhizomes. Morphological properties of fibres such as longitudinal section and cross section views were studied using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Chemical functional groups and crystalline structure, were investigated using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-Ray Diffraction analysis (XRD) respectively. Thermal stability of the fibre was investigated using Thermogravimetric Analyzer (TGA). In addition, fibre properties were investigated by the way of measuring tensile properties, moisture absorbency and dye uptake.
The rhizome anatomy and the fibre morphological observations through SEM reveals fibres are presents in rhizome in the form of scattered vascular bundles with crimp. Each bundle contains approximately 16-25 microfibrils. The FTIR analysis confirms the fibres are rich in cellulose and the X-RD results confirm higher amount of amorphous regions in fibres with a crystallinity index of 43% with a lower amount of crystal phases. Higher moisture regains of 12.54 -14.5%, single fibre tensile strength of 201-205 MPa, higher breaking elongation of 16.89% and 1.3 GPa of Young’s modulus with a thermal stability temperature of 230℃ were the some of the values obtained in this research project. All the results obtained were compared with the characteristics of Cotton fibre.
