All the natural fibres are a wonderful gift from the Divine. From civilization, the natural fibre is being used in different spheres and purposes to fulfill specific technical needs.
Abaca binomial name Musa textilis, is a species of banana grown as a commercial crop in the Philippines, Ecuador, and Costa Rica and has found its importance in rural livelihood.
Over a half. a lot of development has taken place in synthetics/manmade fibres to replace the natural fibres.
However, people now understand the problems of the production and usage of manmade fibre (MMF) and its sustainability aspect. Abaca is a novel fibre grown widely without much care, and the product diversity is also quite vast. Starting from packaging to fashioning fibrous products to composites, the fibre is found suitable.
In this chapter, abaca as a novel sustainable alternative for textiles has been focused on.
The availability of abaca fibre its cultivation to fibre production, product diversification, potentiality in technical textiles as alternative fibre and its sustainability has been discussed thoroughly.
CREDITS: Dr. Sanjoy Debnath
Principal Scientist & Head, Mechanical Processing Division, ICAR-National Institute of Natural Fibre Engineering & Technology, KOLKATA
Dr. Sanjoy Debnath
Principal Scientist & Head, Mechanical Processing Division, ICAR-National Institute of Natural Fibre Engineering & Technology, Kolkata 700040, West Bengal.