Jute
Jute is a long, shiny, vegetable fiber that can be spun into coarse,
strong thread.
Jute is one of the most affordable natural fibers. Industrial term for
jute fiber is raw jute.
Botanical information:-
The botanical name of jute is corchorus.
Cultivation:-
Jute needs plain olluvial soil and standing water. The suitable climate
for jute (warm and wet climate) is
offered by the monsoon climate during the monsoon season. Temperature from
20-40 and relative humidity means (water vapors in air) of 70-80% are favorable
for successful cultivation. Jute requires 5-8cm rainfall weekly and more during
the sowing period.
Production and Processing
Jute is a
rain fed crop with little need for fertilizer or pesticides. It may grow to 5m
(15ft), with a stalk diameter of 20mm (3/4in). The production is concentrated mainly
in Bangladesh and some India.
Jute fibers come from the stem and ribbon
(outer skin) of the jute plant. Fibers are extracted by retting. This process
consists of bundling jute stem together and immersing them in low running
water. They are examed daily until the stage is reached at which fiber can be
separated easily from the stem. The strands of fiber, often as much as 2m (7ft)
long, are washed and hung up in the sun for dry. They are compressed into bales
and sent off to the mills for spinning.
It is necessary to include small amount of
mineral spindle oils into fiber during conversion into yarn. Normal jute goods
may contain up to (5%) oil called stainless. Yarn containing (1%) oil or less
are commonly available when jute use for
special purpose; e.g. carpet backing, wall covering, etc.
Picture of
cutting lower part of the long jute fibre. The lower part is hard fibre, which
is called jute cuttings in Bangladesh and India (commonly called jute butts or jute tops elsewhere). Jute cuttings are lower in
quality, but have commercial value for the paper, carded yarn, and other fibre
processing industries. Jute fibres are kept in bundles in the background in a
warehouse in Bangladesh.
Structure and
Properties
Fiber Structure and Appearance:-
Jute varies from yellow to brown and brown to dirty grey in color with
1-4meter (3-12ft) long.
Jute has a natural silky luster.
Jute fiber composed primarily of the plant material cellulose (major
component of plant fiber) and lignin (major component of wool fiber). It is
thus a lingo-cellulosic fiber that is partially a textile fiber and partially
wood.
Best quality oh jute is smooth and soft. The individual cells of jute are
about 2.6mm (1/10th in) long, on average. The fibers are coated with
a layer of woody material.
Seen in cross-section, the cell is polygonal with Den:-13-27 usually with
five or six bends. It has thick walls and a broad lumen of oval cross-section.
By contrast with the regular lumen of flax jute is irregular. Towards the ends
of the cell, which are tapered, the lumen widens; the cell walls become
correspondingly thin. Jute contains about 20% of lignin.
Jute Fabric
Properties
Tensile Strength:-
Jute is not so strong as flax or
hemp, nor it is so durable. Individual fiber varies greatly in strength owing
to the irregularities in the thickness of cell wall.
Elongation:-
Jute has an elongation at break
of about 1.7%.
Elastic Property:-
Jute tends to be a stiff fiber which
is due to the cell which is cements together in the material.
Specific Gravity:-
1.5
Effect of Moisture:-
Jute is an unusually hygroscopic
fiber. Its regain figure is 13.75%. It can absorb as much as 23% of water under
humid conditions.
Effect of Age:-
If kept dry, jute will last
indefinitely although the high content of non-cellulosic matter tends to make
it sensitive to chemical and photochemical attack. Moisture loses strength of
jute with age.
Chemical Properties:-
Cellulose=64.4% pectin=0.2%
Fat and
wax=0.5% others=23.8%
Water
soluble=3.9%
Micro-organisms:-
Jute has more resistance to
decompose than either grey cotton or flax (i. e unclean). If tightly scoured (scoured
means clean by rubbing with something rough or detergent) it can have an
excellent resistance owing to have the protective effect of the lignin.
Jute in Use:-
1= Jute is cheap and reasonable strong. These characteristics have enable
it to become an important fiber for sacks and packing cloths. These are used
extensively for the storage and transport of agriculture product.
2= Resistance of a jute fiber to stretching forces has proved a valuable
property when jute is used for storage and transport purpose. Sacks and bales
remain firmly in place after stacking; they do not distort and shift position
as they would if made from a fiber more elastic than jute.
3= Hairiness of jute can be a disadvantage when jute sacks are used for
food storage. The fiber end may break away and contaminate the food.
4=the finer quality of jute are made into curtains and furnishing
fabrics. After treatment with caustic soda jute mixes with wool and spun and
woven into cheap fabrics.
5=Familiar uses
for jute include the following;
Sacks, bags, baling and bundle cloths, bedding foundation, bonded fabric,
cargo and other separation cloths (e.g in rubber technology), cattle bedding,
concrete cleavage fabrics, cables, plastics reinforcement, filter cloths, fire
curtains, fuse yarns, furnishing, hand bag and all type of stiff bags.
