engleski

Influence of water hardness on retting and properties of flax fibers

Bast fibres are separated from the non-fibre tissues in the plant stem by retting, and control of this process should produce a reliable and consistent quality of fibre. Water retting has been used for centuries and is known to produce the highest quality fibre. However, water-retting produces environmentally unacceptable fermentation waste because flax stems are submerged in rivers and lakes. Dew retting is the accepted practice for the linen industry and relies on the degradation of the flax stem by indigenous aerobic fungi. However, climatic conditions are uncontrollable and fluctuations in moisture and temperature will affect the evenness of retting. Fibre is poorer quality and coarser than that produced by water retting and fibre properties exhibit greater variability. The quality and yield of the fibre also depends on the hardness of the water and affects the colour and the ability of flax fibres bleaching. If the water is softer, retting of flax fibres is faster and produces the highest quality fibre characterized with good fineness, strength, softness and whiteness. The paper presents the investigation of different water hardness influence in the process of retting flax fibre. The investigation was performed on technical flax fibres of foreign cultivars of fibre flax which were retting in very soft, moderatery hard and hard water. Cultivar trials were set up in 2012 year at two locations: at the experimental fields of the Faculty of Agriculture in Zagreb on eutric cambisol and of the College of Agriculture at Križevci on pseudogley on level terrain. Based on a research of agronomic properties and textile-technological properties after retting in different hardness of water, it has been found that highest yields and share of fibres with finer and stronger fibres were recorded when the fibre flax was retting in very soft water

cultivars; flax fibers; water hardness; properties

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