Chemical degumming and properties of Firmiana platanifolia fiber

For full development and utilization of the local cellulose fiber resources,the chemical degumming process was adopted to prepare Firmiana platanifolia fibers whose chemical compositions,physical and mechanical properties in both dry and wet states,appearance,crystallinity and orientation degree,and aggregation structure were examined using SEM and XRD. The results show that the content of cellulose of Firmiana platanifolia is more than 63%,and pectin and wax contents are high. After chemical degumming,the residual gum content in Firmiana platanifolia fiber is 4. 2%. The cross section of the fiber approximates to an ellipse without central cavity. And longitudinally there are grooves and cross nodes. The fiber has higher initial modulus and lower elongation at break,but the linear density is greater. In Segal method,the crystallinity of fiber is 64. 54%,and the orientation degree is 98. 04%.