Selected properties of cattail fibre for biomedical applications

Abstract

Researchers at the University of Manitoba have developed a textile fibre from cattail biomass. The current study was primarily focused on investigating the possibility of utilizing an already used solution to extract fibres from cattail plants. Examination of physical and mechanical properties of extracted fibre was carried out, followed by an analysis of its chemical treatment effect through the application of 17th-time reuse of alkali solution. To check the suitability of re-used alkali solution, eight fibre properties, including yield percentage, contact angle, load at break, tensile stress at break, tensile strain at break, Young’s modulus, tenacity at break, and moisture regain were determined. One-way ANOVA was used to calculate average and standard deviations of eight properties for all 17th time reuse solutions as well as significant differences among the fibre properties obtained from reused alkali solutions. Data from descriptive statistics were programmed in Python computer language to find out reuse time for single and multiple properties. It was found that for single property, alkali solution can be reused up to R17 for yield (%), contact angle, moisture regain, and strain; R13 for tensile stress; and R14 for Young’s modulus. For multiple properties, the reuse time was found in decreasing order with the increasing in the number of properties.