Preparation and Characterization of Natural Bamboo Fiber

keywords:natural bamboo fiber  chemical pretreatment  disc refining  sulfonic acid group  yield

Abstract:In this study, natural bamboo fiber was prepared combining chemical pretreatment with mechanical disc refining, opening, and carding. An orthogonal experiment was designed based on four factors and three levels; thereafter, the manufacturing process was optimized. The length, diameter, tensile strength, and elastic modulus of the bamboo fiber were determined, and the crystallinity and morphology of the fiber were analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed that the optimum parameters for the chemical pretreatment were a cooking temperature of 130℃, heating time of 2 h, NaOH dosage of 2%, and Na₂SO₃ dosage of 10%. The cooking yield of bamboo chips was 89.5%, and the carding yield of natural bamboo fiber was 43.0% under the optimum conditions. The length, diameter, tensile strength, and elastic modulus of the obtained fiber were 36.71 mm, 0.285 mm, 407 MPa, and 27.7 GPa, respectively. XRD analysis and SEM observations showed that the technology used in this study can produce bright and compact natural bamboo fibers with high crystallinity.