The present work deals with the production of paper materials from onion peels (Allium Cepa) fibers
as an alternative potential non-wood fiber. The onion peels were obtained from a local small and
medium food industry. The onion peels were cooked at 120, 150 and 180 minutes. The peels were
grinded and poured in a set of mould and deckle for the formation of a thin sheet of paper. The
physical, mechanical, morphological characteristics and water rise capillary values (KLEMM
Method) were evaluated to determine its suitability for a paper material. The results show that the
increase in cooking time from 120 to 180 minutes resulted in an increase in the tensile index from
32.28N*m/g to 42.13N*m/g and tear index from 9.80mN*m2
/g to 15.62mN*m2
/g. The bonding
strength increased due to higher number of fibers, finer fiber size, and increase in the fiber contact
area and fiber distribution. The high porosity area affects the performance of water rise capillary
values of the paper sheets. The onion peels fiber gave impressive handsheets characteristics when
compared with other sources of non-wood fibers.
An investigation on the properties of Tenun Pahang fabric performances using alternative yarns was conducted. The studies were made in order to evaluate whether the Tenun Pahang fabric could be produced economically and at the same time maintain the fabric quality. Traditional Tenun Pahang fabric uses silk for both warp and weft. For this project, two alternative yarns were used which were bamboo and modal, which were a little lower in cost compared to silk. These yarns were woven with two variations, one with the yarns as weft only while maintaining the silk warp and the other with both warp and weft using the alternative yarns. Four (4) physical testing and three (3) mechanical testing conducted on the fabric samples. The fabric samples were evaluated including weight, thickness, thread density, crease recovery angle, stiffness and drapability. The results show that modal/silk and bamboo silk fabrics are comparable in terms of stiffness and drapability, hence they have the potential to replace 100% silk Tenun Pahang.
Of late, dyeing fabrics with natural dyes have become an attraction because of its eco-friendly and less threatening disposition towards humankind. In the textile colouration industry, natural dyes play an important role because of the need for replacement synthetic dyes which have a great deal of tension with the environmental issues. This study focuses on the colour shade, colour coordinates, and fastness properties of dyed silk fabric from tagetes erecta (Mexican Marigold flower) using the water boiling extraction method. The dyeing was carried out using lemon juice as a natural mordant through the simultaneous mordanting method, using two different dyeing methods: infrared (IR) dyeing and exhaustion dyeing. The shades produced for exhaustion dyed fabric is light-yellow compared to the IR dyed fabric, which is medium-light yellow. These shades were confirmed with the CIELAB colour coordinates, L*a*b* values. The colourfastness to washing, perspiration, rubbing, and light of the fabrics were conducted to investigate the performance of the dye and mordant on the dyed silk fabrics. The colourfastness properties of the dyed silk fabric using infrared (IR) dyeing technique have better performance than using exhaustion dyeing technique.
This paper reports a study of the formation of cellulose nanofibres from kenaf waste using chemical
extraction method. The extracted holocellulose was then prepared for acid hydrolysis to form the
cellulose. Before mixing it with polyvinyl chloride (PVA) solution and extruded using electrospinning
under different parameters to produce PVA/kenaf nanofibres. Results showed that the morphological
structures of PVA/kenaf nanofibres varied at different voltages. An increase in voltage from 10 kV to 20
kV produced more beads along the fibre length. In addition, the applied voltages were found to affect the
resultant fibre diameter of the PVA/kenaf nanofibres. The results also showed that the electrospinning
parameters affect the shapes of the PVA/kenaf nanofibre membranes. Based on the experimental works,
the optimal applied voltage was found to be at 15 kV, where the resultant fibre diameter and membrane
coverage area were approximately 43.9 ± 3.1 nm and 214.2 ± 15.8 cm2
, respectively.