Extraction and characterization of marigold bast fibre

In this study, marigold fibres have been extracted from the stem by water and chemical retting methods and their physical and morphological properties are evaluated. The longitudinal view of the fibres shows a rectangular mesh structure with grooves inside. The average crystallinity value of the fibre is estimated as 77%. The chemical composition of marigold fibre analysed by SITRA/TC/FCC methods shows that it contains around 68% cellulose. Except for the moisture regain, other physical properties do not differ significantly for thefibres extracted by both methods. The tenacity of water retted marigold fibre is 48.82 gf/tex, whereas, for chemically retted marigold fibre, it is 53.56 gf/tex. The breaking extension of fibres extracted by both these methods is around 2%. The mechanical properties, namely tensile strength, elongation, torsional and flexural rigidity, are found comparable to other bast fibres.