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Abstract
Natural leathers processed from hides and skins of animals face major threat from synthetic leathers as an alternative material with comparable properties for most of the applications. As consumers are becoming increasingly aware of environmental issues, there is a need for ecofriendly biodegradable materials. Natural fibers have several advantages such as low cost, high strength, and biodegradabiliy. In this study, natural cow softy leathers meant for leather goods application and three types of pineapple leaf fiber (PALF)-based fabrics with various blending combination have been chosen and analyzed for physical, morphological, and thermal properties. It was found that most of the physical properties of cow softy leather and PALF-based fabrics are comparable. It is interesting to note that the tensile strength and elongation at break of select PALF-based fabrics is higher in the parallel direction (along the warp length) than in the perpendicular direction (weft). The color and light fastness properties of PALF-based fabrics are better than that of cow softy leather. Scanning electron microscopic analysis provided convincing evidence for characteristic fiber pattern in the individual fiber bundles (yarn) and also their blend fiber composition. The thermal decomposition behavior of both cow softy leather and PALF-based fabrics seems to be comparable, with uniform weight loss of 60 ± 10% during decomposition. The results of this study suggest that the identified PALF-based natural fabrics can be used for making a variety of products in combination with leather for several applications.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors thank Dr. R. Rajaram, CLRI, for carrying out some of the physical testing measurements and Dr. A. Rajaram, CLRI, for his help in SEM analysis, as well as Mr. M. Ashokkumar, CLRI, for carrying out TGA measurements.