Suitability of Typha fibre in composite applications at different stages of plant development
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Date
2022-12-22
Authors
Hossain, Mohammed Shahadat
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Abstract
Typha latifolia L., commonly known as cattail, has already been established as a natural source of fibre for textiles and composite applications when using fully mature plants. An investigation was conducted to determine cattail fibre properties for composite applications from five different growth stages ranging from vegetative to mature plants. The reliability of cattail fibres of three different lengths was characterized by a two-parameter Weibull distribution model using both linear regression (LR) and Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) methods. It was found that cattail fibres from all growth stages were reliable for composite applications, as the Weibull modulus was found to be greater than unity. However, it was impossible to calculate a reliability-rank of fibres due to irregular defects profile in the fibre and inherent limitations of the Weakest Link Theory of the Weibull distribution model. To overcome these limitations, a method to check the suitability of cattail fibres was developed in Python by creating high, average, and low threshold limits values based on the mechanical properties of flax. Failure to rank fibres from the growth stages using the Weibull distribution model was investigated by examining the sources of variations. It was found that fibres from the central part of leaf were finer and weaker than those from the dorsal and ventral sections. The chemical makeup of fibres at various growth stages was found to have no significant differences. This research suggests that cattail plants may be used from all development stages to extract fibre for composite applications. Multiple harvesting could be possible in one growth cycle.
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Waste biomass fibre, Cattail fibre, Cattail growth stage, Cattail multiple time harvest