Fibres

Fibres

Abaca
  • A naturally occurring fiber found in the stem of the abaca plant. A member of the banana family, Musa Textilis.The fiber is also called Manila Hemp, and is used extensively in the manufacture of marine cordage, abrasive backing papers, tea bags, and other products requiring high tensile strength.
    •  Bagasse
  • The crushed stalks of the sugar cane after the sugar has been extracted.
    •  Bamboo
  • Bambusa, a giant woody grass, often reaching a height of forty feet or more, found in the tropical and subtropical regions of the Eastern Hemisphere. It also has been grown successfully in certain parts of the Southern United States. The fibres closely resemble those from straws in many of their characterisitics . Its fibres have an average length of 2.4mm, thus standing between softwood and hardwood fibres.
    •  Cotton
  • A plant of the Genus Gossypium, which yields fibre for the manufacture of durable and permanent fine papers and cellulose derivatives. The boll of the cotton plpant is a capsule that bursts open when ripe, allowing the seed and attached lint (hairs) to be easily picked. The cotton fibre is removed from the seed by the ginning process. See also Cotton Linters
    •  Cotton Linters
  • The short fibres adhering to cotton seed after the operation of ginning (seed removal and cleaning). These fibres are cut from the seed in a series of passes through cutting blades, and are therefore referred to as, "first - cut linters," "second - cut linters," "mill run," etc. Linters are used in the manufacture of cotton fibre content paper and cellulose derivatives.
    •  Esparto
  • Stipa tenacissima, a coarse grass grown in Southern Spain and Northern Africa, containing short fibres which are usually extracted by alkaline pulping processes. Esparto pulp is most often used in the production of book papers. Esparto is also known as alfa, Esparto grass and Spanish Grass.
    •  Flax
  • The bast fibre of the Flax plant (Linum usitatissimum) has been the source of linen for several millennia. Linen rags, cuttings, threads, etc., have long been used in papermaking. More recently the straw from flax cultivated for seed has been used for the manufacture of cigarette paper and similar papers.
    •  Hemp
  • Cannabis sativa, a plant grown in nearly all the temperate countries of the world. It furnishes a bast fibre, obtained by a retting process, which is used for rope and textiles. Some of the fibre enters the paper industry as waste material. The term hemp has also come to be used in a generic sense as fibre and then preceded by an adjective, for example, Manila Hemp (See Abaca), Sisal Hemp (See Sisal).
    •  Kenaf
  • An annual plant (Hibiscus cannabinus), originally from the East Indies but now widespread, of which the fibre can be used for paper pulp and for cordage.
    •  Ramie
  • A plant of the nettle family native to tropical Asia, but cultivated in other suffciently warm regions. The botanical name is Bohemeria nivea (especially important is variety Tenacissima). The bast fibre from the decorticated material is commercially known as China Grass and is used as a textile fibre. It is a potential source of papermaking fibres.
    •  Rayon
  • Rayon (Viscose) - a manufactured fibre composed of regenerated cellulose in which substituents have replaced not more than 15 percent of the hydrogens of the hydroxyl group.
    •  Sisal
  • A plant (Agave sisalana), and the fibre obtained from its leaves, used for hard fiber cordage. Native to Central America, it is grown extensively in the West Indies and Africa. It is used in various papers requiring high strength characteristics. The fibre has also been called Sisal Hemp.

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