Influence of sampling area and extraction method on the thermal, physical and mechanical properties of Cameroonian leaf fibers.

The wide dispersion of the properties of plant fiber bundles further limits their use. In this study, manual and retting methods were used to extract fiber bundles from the available and underutilized (AC) leaf waste in Cameroon. These fibers were sampled in three zones: base, middle and head. The fibers extracted by retting in the different zones were found to have better thermal stability. A 2.5% solution of sodium hypochlorite was used for bleaching the various pineapple fibers. Density, fineness, functional groups, mechanical properties, water absorption and morphology of different fibers were characterized. Density and fineness decreased from the head to the base of the leaf and were lower for manually obtained fiber bundles. The peaks of the infrared spectra associated with the functional groups of the pineapple fibers change very little along with the leaf but are clearly more pronounced for the fibers extracted manually. Fibers in the middle of the leaf have been found to have slightly better mechanical and water absorption properties. All fiber bundles can rapidly absorb water following simple exponential kinetics. Bleaching partially removes non-cellulosic materials from the fibers with a transverse shrinkage effect, which improves their fineness, density and hydrophilic function. Unfortunately, it reduces their tensile strength and fracture toughness. These results show that the whole leaf can be used without restriction to extract manually or by retting the fiber bundles intended for the manufacture of textiles and composites. Furthermore, bleaching with sodium hypochlorite seems ineffective due to fiber degradation.