Physico-chemical characterisation and tensile mechanical properties of Agave americana L. fibres

In this paper, the physico-chemical and mechanical properties of Agave americana L. fibre are studied to explore the possibilities of using this fibre in textile industry. Three different processings for extracting fibres from the leaf of Agave americana L. plant were investigated: (i) raw fibres manually extracted, (ii) fibres extracted by retting leaves in seawater and (iii) fibres extracted after hydrolysis treatment of the leaves in distilled water. Chemical composition (cellulose, lignin and hemicellulose contents), physical properties (density, fineness and crystallinity) as well as mechanical properties of the resultant fibres were measured. The chemical composition reveals that the Agave americana L. fibre has a cellulose content at the order of 62% which is similar to that of other lignocellulosic fibres. The distilled water extracted fibres developed the highest cellulose content. Lignin content of Agave americana L. fibre is low compared to other natural fibres (2.4%) and seawater-extracted fibres generated the lowest lignin content (2.12%). Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR) and x-ray diffractometry of all extracted fibres revealed the same chain conformation. X-ray diffractograms showed that cellulose I is the main crystalline constituent. Concerning physical and mechanical properties, raw fibres were characterised by the lowest density (0.9) and the highest crystallinity (51.2%), they are also stronger and less extensible than the other two fibres. In this paper, we attempt to study the effect of extraction in water on the mechanical and physical properties of Agave americana L. fibres.