Banana fiber processing for the production of technical textiles to reinforce polymeric matrices

Banana fibers have been extracted by mechanical means from banana tree pseudostems, as a strategy to reevaluate banana crops residues. Extracted long fibers are cut to 45 mm length and then immersed into an enzymatic bath for their refining. Conditions of enzymatic treatment have been optimized to produce a textile grade of banana fibers, which have then been characterized. This fiber has then been transformed into yarns and woven to produce a technical textile with different textile structures. Woven material was then used to produce a composite by compression molding, using polypropylene (PP) as polymeric matrix. Once the composite was prepared, mechanical testing was carried out (tensile, flexural and impact tests). Results were compared to those obtained with parts made only of PP and with results composite made with a commercial woven product made of flax.