Bast fibers and their functions

Bast fibers are fibers obtained from stems or leaves of certain plants. There are a lot of such herbaceous representatives of the flora - about 2 thousand. However, the most popular are such ones as flax, hemp, jute, cable car. Wood fibers are those that are made from certain types of wood.

What does this fiber look like?

Bast and wood fibers are the "fabric" of plants. Their cells have an elongated shape and pointed tips. Unlike others, their length can be measured in millimeters and even centimeters. But the cross section is in microns. The fiber shell is very rigid, inside the cell it practically does not live, it is always dead. Over time, there is lignification of such a cell, and its useful properties are lost. It becomes more brittle and crumbly. The non-fading fiber cell is rich in cellulose and is therefore very flexible and elastic.

In practice, not a single fiber, but a conglomerate thereof, is used in industry. The pointed ends of the cells are joined together by pectin, so the material is quite strong. The latter quality is also due to the fact that in their shell, the cellulose febrilites are tightly twisted into a spiral (like a rope or a rope).

To get ready-made quality fiber, you need to destroy the stem. Most often this is achieved by soaking. Pectin and other fastening substances are destroyed - the whole fiber remains. Sometimes a chemical or mechanical method of obtaining it is used.

What are bast fibers used for?

First, they are widely used in the textile industry for the manufacture of fabrics and yarns. Not all fibers are suitable for this purpose, but only soft. They are made of flax or ramie. Another function of bast fibers is rope and rope products. For these purposes, rough products (hemp, jute) and rigid (sisal, abaca) are suitable. Widely used and wood fibers. They are used in construction for the manufacture of composite materials, in the paper industry.

Linen fibers

Flax is a fairly common crop. Its fiber is the most delicate and delicate, which is why it is so widely used in the textile industry. To produce bast fibers grow flax-dolgunets. Its name was given to this plant in its appearance: its stems are very thin and long, reaching 1 meter. As a percentage, the fibers occupy 20-25% of the total plant weight. The collected linen fiber is checked for strength and purity. Indicator quality is a small extensibility, resistance to abrasion and moisture absorption. Linen is made of yarn. Use both long fibers, and "combed", that is, waste after combing. Depending on the spinning technology, the yarn can be more fluffy or, conversely, smooth.

Fabrics made from linen fibers can be different in quality - from the coarsest burlap to thin and soft plaiting. In Russia, only coarse flax is grown.

Hemp

Bast fiber hemp is classified as coarse. The resulting material is called hemp (the same name has a coarse rope, woven from these fibers). It should be said that hemp has male and female plants. Of men, it's just hemp. And from female - materki - rough sea ropes. To process this fiber, special milling machines are used. Without them, the fibers do not succumb to any kind of weaving. They are slightly stretchable, very rough to the touch and absorb moisture well.

Jute

The plant is grown, mainly in India and Pakistan. The fiber has the same name and belongs to the rude category. The mass fraction of it from the whole plant is 20-25%. Because of its rudeness, it is used mainly for furniture upholstery, packaging, sometimes for carpets.

Kenaf

A plant with a lower fiber content (16 to 20%). Of the kenaf fiber, ropes are made, coarse cloth such as sackcloth or tarpaulin. The leader in production is India.

Kanatnik

Herbaceous plant with a high proportion of fiber content. To improve its quality, it is boiled in a special solution. From it, ropes, ropes, etc. are made. The twine made from bast fibers of the rope is very elastic and strong.

Rami

A plant with a very high quality fiber, which is distinguished by a special gloss, elasticity, softness. It is resistant to rot. From Ramy make quality linen fabrics, fishing nets.

In general, the plant belongs to the family Krapivnye. It grows in a subtropical climate. Leading positions in the production of frames belong to China, Japan, the Philippines.

Coarse fibers

Such bast fibers are obtained mainly from tropical plants. They are so named because of their low water permeability, rot resistance, stiffness, strength and low extensibility. They are used only for making ropes.

Abaca is a textile banana. From the leaves of this plant produce the same fiber.

Sisal, heken - fiber from the leaves of the agave. It is less durable than an abacus, and more fragile than a hemp. However, this does not prevent from making networks, ropes and twines from it. It also makes burlap and packing fabric. From waste and cleaning - paper, mainly wrapping. The length of the technical fiber of this plant reaches 1.5 m.

Wood fibers

They are obtained both from the stems of trees, and from their bark. Especially popular is the linden tree. Bast fiber bark limes often called "bast". In Russia, he was made of bast shoes, and during the war this skill was useful to partisans. Soaked linden fibers - bog. Its application is very diverse. This is a good stuffing material. Also to this day from it make brushes for whitening. Or use as a bath sponge. The linden fiber is very durable, so it makes fishing nets and weaves ropes.

In addition, lime fibers are widely used in folk medicine. It is believed that, soaked and mashed to a consistency of puree, they contribute to the healing of wounds and remove toxins from the body. This explains the popularity of lime wads.