Structural Analysis of the Backcloth
Nature has richly endowed humanity a whole wealth of materials with untapped scientific worth and potential.Typical of such is the barkcloth harvested from bark of Ficus Natalesis-a fig tree of the Ficus family.Previous studies have indicated that the barkcloth is merely a nonwoven material capable of absorbing sound given its porous structure with prospects of designing composites for automobile car headliners.In this undertaking, we closely examine the possibility that the barkcloth from Ficus Natalensis is an intrinsically existing natural composite nonwoven material with between 5 to 8 layers interlocked together.From our study, the highly rigid outer layer was easily isolated from the soft inner layers after separately soaking pieces of the barkcloth in acetone and water for 24 hours.Basing on material hand, we found out that the outermost layer renders the Barkcloth its strength properties due to the rigidity of the bundled microfibers embedded therein whereas the soft feel of the stuck inner layers accounted for the materials comfort properties.A structural examination with Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) reveals that the bundled microfibers in each layer are consecutively configured at approximately 45° in an alternating sequence.Thus, we bring to light an entirely biodegradable material with a unique structure that may innovatively be engineered to customize fashionable footwear.Our work may also be used as a basis for modelling textile structures which can mimic the geometry of microfibers and staking sequence of layers in the backcloth using different fibres.
barkcloth composite nonwoven biodegradable
Mugaanire Tendo Innocent Hua Wang
Key Laboratory of Textile Science & Technology, Ministry of Education, China;Department of Textile Engineering, College of Textiles, Donghua University, China
国际会议
2017 Sino-Africa International Symposium on Textiles and Apparel (SAISTA2017)(2017中非纺织服装国际论坛)
上海
英文
96-98
2017-11-18（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）