• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.30 no.7 s.155
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• pp.1025-1033
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• 2006

Kenaf bast can be obtained by decortication of Kenaf stem. Kenaf fibers are much more rough than cotton fiber because they include impurities as pectin, lignin and hemicellulose besides cellulose. The purpose of this research is to investigate the distribution of kenaf fiber length and diameter during the processes of removing impurities. To remove pectin, kenaf bast was retted chemically. A half of the retted kenaf fiber bundle were scoured and bleached. The other half one were treated with $NaClO_2$ solution to remove lignin, and were treated with sodium hydroxide solution to remove hemicellulose. Four kinds of specimens that were obtained for investigating physical characteristics. Length and diameter of 100 fibers on each specimen was measured. The tensile strength of 100 fiber bundles were measured. And also the color values of them were measured with spectrocolorimeter. The length of retted kenaf fiber was 16.97cm. Then it decreased to 11.43cm after bleaching. Kenaf fiber bundles could be finer by chemical processes that remove non-cellulosic materials. The thickness of retted fiber was $132{\mu}m$. And after undergoing the chemical processes to remove non-cellulosic materials, the thickness of kenaf fiber became finer as $73{\mu}m$. Tensile strength of the retted kenaf fiber bundles was 11.37Mpa. The retted kenaf fiber lost their strength as 22.6% by bleaching and as 18.3% by treatment for removing lignin. The retted kenaf fiber showed low whiteness as 56.48 of L*value. After bleaching, the kenaf fibers have creamy white color and their whiteness got 90.02 of L*value. After the treatment for removing hemicellulose, the kenaf fibers also have creamy white color and their whiteness got L* value of 79.02.

• Journal of Adhesion and Interface
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.60-67
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• 2018

In the present study, when the surface of kenaf, which is an environmentally friendly natural fiber, was treated by using adhesive solution containing Chemlok 402, the effects of fiber surface treatment, fiber content and fiber length on the cure characteristics, hardness, tensile modulus and abrasion resistance of kenaf/natural rubber composites were investigated. The kenaf fiber contents consisting of the composites were varied with 0, 5, 10, 15, and 29 phr at a fixed fiber length of 2 mm and also the fiber length was varied with 2, 35, and 70 mm at a fixed fiber content of 5 phr. The Tmax and tc90 values, Shore A hardness, tensile modulus, and abrasion resistance of natural rubber composites strongly depended on the kenaf fiber content and length. The characteristics of the composite with kenaf fibers treated with the adhesive solution containing Chemlok 402 were higher than those untreated. This is ascribed to the improved interfacial adhesion between the treated kenaf fiber and the rubber matrix. This study suggests that an appropriate use of adhesive solution may be possible to increase the properties of natural fiber-reinforced composites.

• Fibers and Polymers
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.26-29
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• 2006

Samples of kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus) grown in Malaysia were examined to determine the kraft pulp and paper-making properties of their bast (or bark) fibers. Using kraft pulping process showed that bast fibers were relatively easy to cook resulting good pulp yields in the range of 45-51 %. The bast pulp produced sheets with great density, tear index and dry zero-span breaking length. Kenaf bast fiber is considered promising for production of high-grade printing, writing and specialty papers.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.34 no.11
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• pp.1889-1899
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• 2010

This study examines the preparation and characterization of Kenaf/Starch bio-composites used as filler and a matrix. Kenaf was cultivated in Chung-ju in Korea, and the Kenaf/Starch bio-composites were prepared under various conditions of kenaf fiber length (1-5 centimeters); the content of Kenaf fiber was 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40%, and the number of composite layers (one-four). Depending on the formation conditions of Kenaf/Starch composites, the physical properties such as tensile strength, elongation, and the young modulus of the Kenaf/Starch composites were measured. In addition, we measured the SEM cross-section images in order to investigate the interfacial adhesion properties of fractured surfaces. As a result, the tensile strength and elongation of the Kenaf/Starch composites were highest in the molding conditions of a hot press at $120^{\circ}C$, 3000PSI of pressure, and for 30 minute periods. The result of measuring the physical properties of the composites manufactured by varying the content of Kenaf fiber when the content of Kenaf fiber was 30% as well the physical properties of the Kenaf/Starch composite was found desirable. It was found that the physical properties improved with more overlapped layers in the composites manufactured by varying the number of overlapped layers. Through the measuring of the SEM cross-section images, we found that the interfacial adhesion state between the filler and matrix of Kenaf/Starch composite greatly affects the physical properties.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.30 no.11 s.158
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• pp.1581-1588
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• 2006

The effects of removal of lignin or hemicellulose on the cottonizing and pulping characteristics of kenaf fiber were studied by comparing the conditions of non-cellulosic material contents, fiber lengths and dyeability. And the effects of lignin or hemicellulose on dyeability of the kenaf fiber using CI Direct Green 26 and CI Direct Red 81 were investigated. The results were as follows. The lignin contents decreased and the kenaf fiber became shorter and finer as the reaction time with sodium chlorite increased. The hemicellulose could be removed by treating sodium hydroxide solution to the fiber from which the lignin partly removed. The 80% of hemicellulose could be removed by 5% of sodium hydroxide solution in 5 minutes. But if lignin were not removed at all, hemicellulose could not be removed. The fiber lengths proper for apparel were obtained after treating sodium chlorite for 10-20 minutes and those for pulping were obtained after treating sodium chlorite for 40 minutes. The kenaf fibers from which lignin and hemicellulose partly removed were dyed with CI Direct Green 26 and CI Direct Red 81. Their dyeability increased as the removal rates of lignin increased. The ${\Delta}E$ values of kenaf fiber dyed with CI Direct Green 26 were lower than CI Direct Red 81.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.270-275
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• 2016

High density polyethylene (HDPE)/kenaf fiber (KF) composites included two types of KF with different lengths were fabricated by using a twin screw extruder. A thermally expandable microcapsule (EMC) was used to form HDPE/KF. The KF lengths were 0.3 mm and 3 mm. The contents of KF and EMC were fixed at 20 wt% and 5 wt%, respectively. From FT-IR data of KF, which underwent chemical treatment, peaks around 1700 and $1300cm^{-1}$ decreased. This might be caused by the reduction of lignin and hemicellulose due to the chemical treatment of KF. Based on the specific gravity, thermal stability and tensile property, physical properties of the composites with a 3 mm fiber were good. However, if the fiber is longer, poor appearance might be caused due to the thermal degradation during processing. Thus, the adequate length of KF should be chosen to maintain the appearance and physical properties for industrial applications of HDPE/KF/EMC composites. The tensile strength for 0.3 mm fiber treated with chemicals increased slightly.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.31 no.8
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• pp.1286-1296
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• 2007

Hanji, the korean traditional papers were mostly made from mulberry paper. But the production and demand of hanji have decreased rapidly because mulberry paper yields were insufficient and handworked hanji procedures were complicated. Recently, the researches on hanji were carried out to improve the properties of hanji. Kenaf fibers have been interested as a substitute resource of mulberry paper for hanji production. In this research, Kenai pulps were manufactured with removal methods of lignin or hemicellulose from kenaf fibers and paper mulberry pulps with traditional alkali methods. Kenaf papers, paper mulberry, and kenaf/paper mulberry mixed papers were manufactured with their pulps. The crystallinity, fiber length, color of the pulps and tensile strength, tear strength, water absorption of the papers were investigated. The results were as follow: The removal rates of lignin of chemical retted kenaf fibers with sodium chlorite reaction for 40 minutes were 70% and were higher than 40% of double retted fibers. Paper mulberry pulps has less lignin and hemicellulose than kenaf differently. The crystallinity of paper mulberry pulps were very low with 60%, but kenaf pulps were 90%. The chemical retted CR-40-1 pulps were similar with paper mulberry pulps on fiber length & fibrilation of fibers. Tensile strength of paper mulberry were higher than kenaf papers because of fibrilation of paper mulberry, but tear strength were lower. Tensile strength and tear strength were improved on kenaf/paper mulberry 30/70 mixed papers.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.291-297
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• 1989

It was indicated that natural fiber crops Ln Korea have been major crops, such as cotton, flax, ramie and Kenaf. The major varieties andagronomic characterics are summarized as follows. Cotton variety, Mokpo 6 is long fiber length and, is high lint yield, flax variety, Wiera is hiTh amount of dry stem and grains weiTht. On the other hand, kenaf variety, Suweon 2 is high dry fiber weight and fiher ratio.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.11-18
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• 2008

Anatomical characteristics of volumetric composition, fiber length, vessel diameter, and crystalline properties of cellulose in kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) planted in the reclaimed land of Buan-si, Korea were examined to understand the growth characteristics using a light microscopy and an X-ray diffraction method. The samples of kenaf were taken from six positions (3 cm, 35 cm, 70 cm, 105 cm, 280 cm, and 320 cm) of each stem over the growth period (July, August, September, and October) after seeding in the mid-May. In the kenaf stem, phloem constituted 10 to 15 %, xylem 66 to 82%, and pith 7 to 19%. The ray, bast fiber, and remainder comprised 50%, 20%, and 30% of the phloem, respectively. The volume of vessel, ray, and fiber in the xylem was approximately 10, 15, and 75%, respectively. The proportion of cell wall was 30.92% at the base of stem and 46.40% at the top of stem, respectively. The average length of bast fiber and xylem fiber was about 2.8 mm and 0.9 mm, respectively. Radial and tangential diameters of vessel increased with the increase of growth period, while they decreased with increasing the stem height. Relative crystallinity ranged from 70 to 79% in phloem and from 50 to 56% in xylem. Cellulose crystallite width was about 3 nm both in the phloem and xylem. Thus, the volumetric composition and cell dimensions in the phloem and xylem appeared to be varied with the growth period and the stem height.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.70-76
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• 1999

This study was to measure the potential of nonwoody fibrous material, kenaf. Whole stalk of kenaf, Hibiscus cannabinus was separated by two parts of bast and core portion, and cooked separately by alkaline method. Morphological characteristic was evaluated using confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM) and fiber quality analyzer(FQA). The strength properties of handsheets, made by different mixing ration between kenaf base and core fibers, were measured. Cross-sectional area of bast fibers was smaller than that of core fibers, but the bast fibers had a thick cell wall and narrow lumen area. Bast fibers were longer in length than core fibers. Core fibers had thin cell walls, broad lumen areas, and short lengths, and they had collapsed shape even in water. These characteristics of core fibers affected strength properties of handsheet positively. When the amount of core fibers increased, the strength properties of handsheet were increased. When the amount of bast fibers increased, the handsheet had rougher surface and higher air permeability.