Physical Properties of Banana Pseudo Stem for Sustainable Textile Application

Abstract

Banana fiber is gaining attention as an environmentally friendly and sustainable material for textile applications. This article investigates the chemical composition and physical properties of banana pseudo-stem fiber as a sustainable and economically viable alternative for textile applications. Banana fibre was extracted using the manual decortication process from banana pseudo-stem and subjected to chemical and physical tests. The chemical composition test shows the percentage composition of cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, pectin and other content of the fibre to be 43.889%, 19.494%, 28.789%, 0.820%, 7.008% respectively. Physical test carried out include moisture regain, moisture content, water absorption and vertical wicking. Moisture regain and moisture content of banana fibre are 0.75% and 0.7% respectively. The water absorption and vertical wicking was compared with that of cotton and wool and result shows that the banana fibre has moderate water absorption and vertical wicking when compared with cotton and wool.