The Development of New Mixed Fiber from Waste Cocoon and Other Plant Fibers

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to develop new mixed fiber from waste cocoon and other plant fibers. It was found that waste cocoon has qualitative properties to produce new mixed fiber when mixed with five kinds of plant fibers, namely cotton yarn, linen yarn, pineapple yarn, ramie yarn and hemp yarn. The processes included boiling waste cocoon in wetting agent water and Sodium Carbonate for 30 minutes at 90 ºC, and dehydrating it. After that, short cocoon yarn was obtained. Then mix it with the five kinds of plant fibers with the ratio of 50:50 in carding at silk card, and undergo mixing and spinning process. Qualitative test result of new mixed fiber from waste cocoon used as weft yarn, and five kinds of plant fibers used as warp yarn in industrial weaving showed that fiber from waste cocoon mixed with hemp yarn has the best breaking strength of 194 CN/tex, followed by waste cocoon mixed with ramie yarn of 149 CN/tex, waste cocoon mixed with linen yarn of 146 CN/tex, waste cocoon mixed with pineapple yarn of 145 CN/tex, and waste cocoon mixed with cotton yarn of 143 CN/tex. Meanwhile, fiber from waste cocoon mixed with heft yarn has the best mean elongation of 2.30 cm, followed by waste cocoon mixed with cotton yarn of 2.32 cm, waste cocoon mixed with ramie yarn of 2.77 cm, waste cocoon mixed with linen yarn of 3.42 cm., and waste cocoon mixed with pineapple yarn of 3.43 cm. Thus, the research results indicated that fiber from waste cocoon mixed with hemp yarn is good for producing home textile as it has the highest breaking strength while fiber from waste cocoon mixed with pineapple yarn is good for producing clothes.