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11 Evaluation of Fibre Quality: A Review Pradipta Banerjee1, D. P. Ray1, Pratik Satya2, S. Debnath1, Debashmita Mondal1, S. C. Saha1 and P. K. Biswas3

1National Institute of Research on Jute and Allied Fibre Technology, Kolkata, West , . 2Central Research Institute for Jute and Allied Fibres, Barrackpore, Kolkata, , India. 3Palli Siksha Bhavana, Visva Bharati, Sriniketan, West Bengal, India.

ABSTRACT Ramie (Boehmeria nivea L. Gaud.) is a fibre yielding belonging to the Nettle family Uriticaceae (Ray et al., 2014b). Before using this for products, it has to be degummed completely or partially. The degummed ramie fibre is silky, lustrous and whitest of the . This classic fibre has unique physical and chemical properties that differentiate ramie from other bast fibres commonly used in textile industries. Single filament of ramie fibre is very fine and possesses excellent tenacity, luster and microbial resistivity. The fibre absorbs and liberates moisture very fast with almost negligible shrinkage. It is more resistant to chemical actions than most other major fibres. The ultimate fibre cell length, breadth, L/B ratio, cell wall thickness, gravimetric fineness of ramie fibre is superior to jute, or . Despite of its unique characteristics, ramie still remains unexplored due to high percentage of gum which binds the fibres together and makes it difficult to spin (Ray et al., 2014d). Keywords: Ramie, degumming, bast fibre, tenacity, fineness

Ramie produces one of the finest, ancient and textile (L.) Gaud., is a perennial shrub belonging to the nettle grade vegetable fibres known to the world, grown mainly family Uritcaceae. This cellulosic fibre has an immense in tropical and temperate regions (Ray, et al., 2014). It economical importance in manufacturing of various goods, possesses highest strength, good durability, excellent lustre such as, shirting and suiting materials, table clothes, bed and microbe resistance property. Ramie or Boehmeria nivea sheets, curtains. The fibre is collected from the surrounding the stem of this dicotyledonous plant. These Access this article online bast fibres provide mechanical strength to the stem. The cross-sectional area of the stem of ramie plant consists of Publisher pith, xylem, cambium, phloem or bast, cortex and epidermis

Website: (inside to outside). The fibres are obtained from phloem, http://www.renupublishers.com located in the inner bark, outside the cambium (Pandey, 2007). Like all vegetable fibres, ramie fibres are also made up of sclerenchymatous tissue and have high length- to-diameter ratio. The wall of ramie fibre is composite in

Address for correspondence D. P. Ray, National Institute of Research on Jute and Allied Fibre Technology, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Email: [email protected] Submission: 07 January, 2015 Revison : 21 February, 2015 Acceptance: 28 March, 2015 Banerjee et al. : Evaluation of Ramie Fibre Quality: A Review nature and thus provides toughness to individual fibre. The alpha-. Chakravarty et al., (1972) and Dasgupta ramie fibres have very high tensile strength and are used et al., (1979) stated that decorticated ramie fibre was in high quality . But the main problem of using ramie composed of 19–30% gummy materials, apart from 1.5% is that the fibres are glued together by gummy substances. ash, 0.32% fat and wax, 4.03% pentosans, 0.54 % lignin These gummy materials, which are mainly sugars, hold the and 86.50% cellulose. Petruszka (1977) reported 72- fibres in bundles. 79% cellulose, 0-1% lignin, 25–35% water insoluble gums in decorticated fibre. From these reports it is evident that Biochemical composition of ramie fibre hemicellulose content of ramie fibre is the highest among The major constituents of ramie fibre are alpha-cellulose, the non-cellulosic components. Chemical compositions of hemicellulose and pectin bonded with Ca+2 ions. The different ramie varieties grown in showed little minor constituents are inorganic matters, nitrogenous variation the amount of lipids, water-soluble components, matters, fat and wax, traces of pigments and lignin. pectin and lignin, but there was almost no change in Pectin, hemicelluloses, lignin form the soft matrix on which hemicelluloses, cellulose and ash contents of fibre (Minchun, the rigid cellulose microfibrils are embedded (Gravitis, 1989). Gas Liquid Chromatography analysis of ramie gum 2006). Pectin represents a polymer of D-galacturonic components showed that it is composed of mainly 49.90% acid and other monosaccharides, while hemicellulose is galactose, 1.20% mannose, 9.70 % arabinose, 38% a short, highly branched polymer of several five and six rhamnose and traces of xylose (Pandey, 2007). It is found carbon monosaccharide units. Lignin, present in negligible that gum polysaccharide of ramie in combination with urea amount in ramie fibre, is a complex insoluble polymer of formaldehyde has a good adhesive property for making phenolic residues, associated with cellulose and acts as a particle board. strengthening material. The cellulose microfibrils are long bundles of extensive hydrogen bonded linear polymers Ramie leaf contains some useful minerals like Ca, K, of glucose linked by β-glycosidic linkages (Lodish et al., Mg, unsaturated fatty acids like linoleic acid (30%) and 2003). According to Hazra and Karmakar (2008) the linolenic acid (33%), 9.79 mg/ 100 g a-tocopherol and cellulose: hemicelluloses (C:H) ratio of ramie is the highest antioxidant compounds like polyphenol and flavonoids (23.6 : 1), followed by sunhemp (21.7 : 1), flax (18.2: 1). (Lee et al., 2009). All other fibres have C:H ratio in the range of 3.60 and 4.10. A high C:H ratio may favour high degree of cellulose Physical properties of ramie fibre crystallinity and may be for this reason ramie produces Now coming to the physical parameters, ramie has the the strongest but stiffest bast fibre (Sarkar et al., 2010). highest area of cross-section among all the bast fibres, Because of its stiffness and brittleness with low elasticity about 5.639 X 103 µm2 (CIRCOT, Mumbai, 1999). Ramie and resilience, blends of ramie are more common than pure ramie (Singh, 1996; Anonymous, 2009). The degree fibre comes first in terms of durability, tensile strength, of crystallinity of ramie fibre was determined by X-ray length of fibre cells, fineness and colour, among all other crystallography methods. Batra (2007) reported that the long vegetable textile fibres (Biswas and Basu, 1994). As degree of crystallinity of ramie is generally 70%, with reported by Satya et al., (2010), the ultimate fibre cell 74% and 54% crystallinity in dry and moist condition length of ramie is 20 - 25 mm, ultimate fibre cell breadth respectively. is 15 – 80 µm, L/B ratio is 3500:1, cell wall thickness is 9 – 16 µm, gravimetric fineness is 0.40 – 0.80 tex and fibre The stem of the ramie plant is soaked in water and the fibres filament tenacity is 40 – 65 g tex-1, which is far better are extracted by motor driven machine. The decorticated from cotton, jute and flax. The higher L/B ratio indicates fibres are subjected to degumming by chemical, microbial or chemi-microbial method. Degummed ramie fibre mainly the quality of fibre and in this respect ramie is better than consists of 19-30% gum, along with lignin, pectin, fat and cotton (1000-3000:1) (Kim and Triplett, 2001). The fibre wax etc. Thakur et al., (1999) reported that R-1411 variety strands of ramie measure up to 90 cm in length, with the of decorticated ramie contained 22.93% gum, 1.72% longest individual cell of 40 cm long, which is about 7-13 pectin, 87.29% holocellulose, 73.76% cellulose and 95% times longer than cotton seed trichomes (Anonymous, 2009;

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Fahn, 1990). The luster and whiteness of bleached ramie Table 2: Fineness of major textile fibres fibre is comparable to . Fibre Fineness (tex) Tenacity and fineness of decorticated ramie fibre improved Cotton 0.20 gradually by degumming the fibre with strong alkali Ramie 0.80 (Pandey, 1998). Fan et al., (2010) compared the tensile Jute 4.50 properties of ramie degummed in Mesta 5.50 and sodium bicarbonate. He showed that due to the Flax 6.00 differences in strength of the two alkali solutions, the stress Sunhemp 17.00 of fibre degummed in sodium carbonate was greater than 35.00 corresponding tensile properties of ramie degummed in sodium hydroxide. Since sodium hydroxide damaged treatment average breaking load and tensile strength the fibres to a greater extent than sodium carbonate, decreased with the increase in either the bleaching period the ramie degummed with sodium hydroxide had poorer or the concentration of bleaching solution. The fineness of tensile strength. The gum residues obtained from the the fibre, on other hand, was unaffected by the period two treatments was almost the same in both the cases. A of bleaching as well as the concentration of bleaching comparative study of filament tenacity and bundle tenacity solution. Thakur et al., (1999) studied the breaking load of flax, jute, , , sunhemp, ramie, sisal and cotton and tenacity of different varieties of raw and degummed is shown in Table 1 (Singh). ramie fibres and showed that tenacity of raw decorticated ramie fibre was higher than that of alkali treated fibres. Table 1. Filament and bundle tenacity of major textile fibres Loss in tenacity of fibre is attributed to the removal of gum in the cell. Moreover, on removal of gummy substances from Tenacity (g/den) fibre, it takes a more crystalline form (CIRCOT, Mumbai, Fibre Filament Bundle 1999). Flax 45-55 30-36 Jute 30-45 13-30 Table 3: Filament characteristics of ramie and jute

Roselle 25-40 20-30 Jute (C. Jute (C. Filament characteristics Ramie Kenaf 30-45 16-30 capsularis) olitorius) Sunnhemp 12-35 15-35 Gravimetric fineness (tex) 0.40 – 0.80 1.25 – 4.00 2 – 5 Ramie 40-65 18-40 Tenacity (g/tex) 40 - 65 30 – 45 35 – 50 Sisal 40-45 22-36 Extension at break (%) 3 – 4 1 – 1.80 1 – 2 Cotton 20-45 - Torsional rigidity (10-9N/ 1 – 2 0.25 – 1.25 0.25 – 1.30 M2) The fineness of individual fibre of ramie comes next to Flexural rigidity (10-9N M2) 0.80 – 1.20 3 – 5.50 3.50 - 6 cotton and followed by jute, mesta, flax, sunhemp, siasal (Hazra and Karmakar, 2008; Anonymous, 1990). The A data showed that the tensile strength of made up fineness data are showed in Table 2. of ramie fibres after forty washings with 5% soap and 5% soda reduced by only 7% while the tensile strength of yarn Breaking load and tensile strength of degummed ramie made up of cotton reduced by 18%, spun reduced fibre is dependent on different stages of crop growth. by 19%, flax () reduced by 63% and ramie – spun It was observed that after degumming, matured ramie rayon blend (1:1) reduced by 16% (Singh, 1996). Wet (70 days old) showed higher tensile strength than over- strength of ramie is greater than cotton. matured ramie (90 days old) (Kundu et al., 1996). Roy et al., (1998) reported the variation in physical properties of Ramie fabrics have an excellent property of transmitting fungal degummed and bleached ramie fibre with different heat, moisture absorbance, resisting mildew and resisting concentrations of bleaching solution for varying period of moth (Pandey, 2007). The ramie is also known to have anti time. According to their finding, for the same degumming microbial property. The true fibre density value of ramie

International Journal of Bioresource Science Vol 2 l Issue 1 l April 2015 67 Banerjee et al. : Evaluation of Ramie Fibre Quality: A Review is the highest among all the lingo-cellulosic fibres (CIRCOT, physical properties of single filament is given in Table 3 Mumbai, 1999). All these physical properties of ramie (Nag and Saha, 2009). have contributed to its immense popularity in recent times. The overall fibre quality parameters of ramie in comparison to other major fibre crops are described in Table 4 (Satya Quality evaluation of ramie fibre et al., 2010). Length: The length of the fibre is measured from bottom end point to top end point of a bundle of reeds. It is Table 4. comparison of fibre quality of ramie with other measured with a scale and generally measures from 60 major textile fibres – 120 cm or more. Length mainly depends on harvesting time of the plant. Ramie Cotton Jute Flax Degumming: Decorticated ramie fibre contains 19 to 30 Fibre Physical Characteristics % gummy substances which have to be reduced to 5-6 % to prepare spin able yarn (Banerjee et al., 2014). Removal Ultimate fibre 26 – 20 – 25 16 – 52 0.80 – 6.00 of gum, mainly hemicelluloses, pectin, lignin and wax is length (mm) 65 necessary to yield textile grade ramie fibre (Ray et al., Ultimate fibre cell 10 – 15 – 80 15 – 20 5 – 25 2014a). The fineness and tenacity vary with the residual breadth (µm) 35 gum content of the fibre. The total and residual gum content L/B ratio 3500 2500 110 1700 is measured chemically by Das Gupta et al., 1976 method. Cell wall thickness Degumming could be brought about by both chemical 9 – 16 - 3 – 9 8 – 17 (µm) and microbial method. Proper degumming uplifts the fibre Fibre filament quality in terms of fineness, tenacity, colour and durability. 40 - 65 30 - 35 30 - 45 45 - 55 tenacity (g tex-1) Gravimetric fineness: The measurement of diameter of Chemical composition (%) single fibre is called fineness. It is expressed by linear α- cellulose 86.90 88 – 96 61 80 density or mass per unit length (g/km or tex). Gravimetric fineness is measured by weighing 100 fibres of 1 cm length β- cellulose 5.00 - - - and expressing in linear density value (Bhaduri et al., Hemicellulose 3.90 - 15.90 4.40 2009). Finer fibre indicates better quality. Generally the Lignin 0.50 - 13.50 5.50 fineness of ramie fibres vary between 0.40 – 0.80 tex. Conclusion Bundle strength: The bundle strength of the fibre measured by Instron Tensile Tester or NIRJAFT Bundle Strength Tester Now-a-days ramie has been blended with several natural (Bhaduri et al., 2009). In the Bundle Tester instrument, a and man-made fibres for the production of high quality bundle of 12.5 cm long fibres of mass 200 to 400 mg is textile products. Durability, thermal properties and taken from the middle region of the whole fibre and tested structural parameters of fibre using XRD, SEM, DTA, TGA, for tenacity. The bundle strength is expressed as g/tex. The and DSC helped to develop products with new properties. average of 10 measurements was taken for appropriate Modern technologies used in dyeing and will result. Generally the bundle strength of ramie fibre varies help to produce high-quality products with the necessary between 28 – 40 g/tex, which is much more superior than comfort properties. In recent years a great deal of research C. casularis (13- 30 g/tex) and C. olitorius (16 – 35 g/tex) work has been carried out in India regarding the quality (Nag and Saha, 2009). improvement of ramie fibres. After cotton and jute, ramie Tensile testing of single filament: Single filaments were has a huge potential to emerge as a major fibre yielding separated manually and tensile test was performed using crop all over the world. Instron tensile tester. The filaments were pasted on to a paper window of 20 mm gauge length and an extension References rate of 20 mm/min was used. A load of 2.5 Newton was Anon. 1990. 50 Years of Research (1939-89). Jute Technological applied. A comparison between ramie and jute in terms of Research Laboratories, Kolkata: 118.

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