Preparing and Characterizing Kenaf/Cotton Blended Fabrics

Kenaf fibers offer the advantage of being renewable, biodegradable, and environmen tally safe, but kenaf is difficult to process and spin because of its coarseness, stiffness, and the low cohesion of its fiber bundles. In this research, kenaf fibers are treated by a modified chemical degumming method to improve their properties. The finer and softer kenaf fiber bundles are easier to process than those in earlier studies. Treated kenaf fiber bundles are blended with Pima cotton and spun on a cotton processing system to yield blended 30/70 kenaf/cotton yams. For comparison, 100% cotton yarn, 30/70 jute/cotton yarn, and 30/70 flax/cotton blended yarn are also prepared. The kenaf/cotton blended yarns are comparable to the jute/cotton and flax/cotton blends. Experimental woven fabrics made from 100% cotton yam and from the blended yarns reveal that the breaking strength of kenaf/cotton blended fabric is similar to that of other blends, but lower than that of 100% cotton fabric. The kenaf blended fabric displays the highest air permeability. When the Kawabata Evaluation System is used to evaluate the fabrics, the results show that the blends are stiffer and less recoverable after deformation than the 100% cotton fabric, but the measured surface properties of the blended fabrics are comparable to those of 100% cotton.