Development of reinforced paper laminates using bhindi fibres

摘要

Long strand fibres have been extracted from the stems of bhindi plant (Hibiscus esculentus Linn) using conventional retting process, carded into sliver and then used for making paper-fibre-paper laminates. The laminates have been prepared by sandwiching 9-41 wt% of fibres between two sheets of packaging-grade paper and bonded by hot pressing the sandwich in the presence of starch-based adhesives. The laminates thus prepared show better tearing and bending resistance than the laminates made from pure paper sheets. Laminates with 41 wt% fibres show increase in tearing resistance by 400% and in bending resistance by 1200%. Tensile properties and peeling resistance have been found to be reasonable and dependent on the amount of adhesive used. The developed paper-fibre laminates are potential candidates for use as a low-cost alternative to high- grade corrugated paper laminates in packaging industry and offer additional value to the farmers of bhindi plant.