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Textile Research Journal
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Morphological Characterization of Individual Fiber of Agave americana L.

Yassine Chaabouni

Laboratoire de Physique et Mécanique Textiles, FRE 2636 CNRS/UHA, ENSITM, 11, rue Alfred Werner, 68093 Mulhouse Cedex, France

Jean-Yves Drean

Laboratoire de Physique et Mécanique Textiles, FRE 2636 CNRS/UHA, ENSITM, 11, rue Alfred Werner, 68093 Mulhouse Cedex, France, jy.drean{at}uha.fr

Slah Msahli

Unité de Recherches Textiles, ISET, Avenue Ali Soua, 5070 Ksar Hellal, Tunisia

Faouzi Sakli

Unité de Recherches Textiles, ISET, Avenue Ali Soua, 5070 Ksar Hellal, Tunisia

The fine structure of Agave americana L. fiber was studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. The individual fibers have a helical structure whose axis can be considered as parallel to the main axis of the bundles of ultimate fibers. Individual fibers are extracted from the technical one with the help of a 3.8% NaOH alkali solution at 130°C. SEM analysis of an individual fiber, using image analysis software, shows that the shape of an individual fiber can be likened to a ribbon with a main transverse dimension around 3.1 µm which can be considered as very small in comparison with other individual natural fibers. The SEM analysis has also shown the fiber to have a helical structure composed of square-shape spirals which were also examined. In this study, an attempt is made to explain some of the physical and mechanical properties of the bundles of ultimate fibers, such as its high strain (49%) and its low density (1.36), through the morphological characterization of individual Agave fibers.

Key Words: Agave americana L. • extraction • characterization • morphology • microstructure • mechanical properties

Textile Research Journal, Vol. 76, No. 5, 367-374 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0040517506061965
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