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Following their mechanical extraction, the fibers coming from the banana pseudo-stem are coarse and the inter fiber cohesive substances need to be removed before their transformation into textile yarns/technical textiles. To reach this objective, dry-coarse banana fibers previously extracted using compressive rollers are treated using an oil-water-based emulsion. Various properties such as mechanical properties, thermal properties, surface morphology, chemical structure, crystallinity, color value, and moisture content of the banana fibers extracted through emulsion treatment have been evaluated and are compared with those of untreated banana fibers, and the fibers extracted through acetic acid treatment and alkali treatment, respectively. It is observed that the banana fibers extracted through oil/water emulsion treatment show higher crystallinity, tensile properties, thermal stability, moisture content, and brightness than that of untreated fibers and the fibers extracted through other treatments. Following oil-water emulsion treatment, the banana fibers possess suitable properties for recyclable thermoplastic composite manufacturing with technical-grade polymers, such as PP or PLA.

Linseed flax is an oilseed producing crop but its stems are rich in high potential fibers. However, linseed flax is not highly promoted for fiber application purposes. It is mainly due to the lack of technical knowledge regarding good quality fiber extraction from linseed stems. In this study, a fiber extraction device has been used to extract fiber from the randomly aligned linseed stems. Linseed fibers extracted using the above device are further refined in a gill drawing mini system having six different drawing passages. The extracted fibers are then evaluated at different stages of fiber extraction and are compared with industrial hackling tow textile flax fibers. It is observed that the extracted linseed flax fibers are long and fine enough for various textile yarn manufacturing. Their mechanical properties are also very high and are comparable to good quality textile flax fibers. Thus, these fibers can be considered as a complement to textile flax for the production of composite reinforcement fabrics, technical textiles, or garments.

Antiviral textiles are one of the most promising areas of protective textiles. Antiviral textiles are important in the field of health and hygiene. They become an essential part of our daily-life when a pandemic situation arises. The present paper critically analyses and summarizes various researches of the production of antiviral textiles. Different classes of the virus, how the virus transmits and replicates, various antiviral agents for textiles and their working mechanism, and the application procedure of various synthesized and bio-based antiviral compounds on textiles have been discussed in this paper. Finally, the present paper compares the existing antiviral finishing on textiles in terms of its effectiveness, durability and skin-friendliness and, following that, discusses the possibilities of using antiviral textiles in various sectors.

Due to the ever-growing demand for bast fibres for technical and garment textiles, complementary sources to textile flax, whose cultivation in western Europe cannot really be extended, need to be proposed. In this study, the interest in harvesting and processing linseed flax straw is studied for geotextile applications. The main critical stages of fibre-to-yarn production for geotextiles were investigated. Different dew retting levels as well as different all-fibre extraction processes were investigated to achieve this objective. It was demonstrated that the fibres extracted from linseed flax stems subjected to 12 weeks of dew retting using breaking rollers, thresher and a breaking card exhibited the most suitable morphological and mechanical properties. The optimal fibres were converted into 100% linseed flax yarns using a flyer spinning machine, and the mechanical properties as well as the biodegradability of the linseed yarns were evaluated to understand their potential as geotextiles. These linseed flax yarns were further coated with linseed oil or chitosan to enhance their durability. It was observed that the linseed oil coating better preserved the yarn’s integrity and mechanical properties over time, and it permitted doubling their service life potential.

Recycling of thermoplastic composites has drawn a considerable attention in the recent years. However, the main issue with recycled composites is their inferior mechanical properties compared to the virgin ones. In this present study, an alternative route to the traditional mechanical recycling technique of thermoplastic composites has been investigated with the view to increase mechanical properties of the recycled parts. In this regard, the glass/polypropylene laminate offcuts are cut in different grain sizes and processed in bulk form, using compression moulding. Further, the effect of different grain sizes (i.e., different lengths, widths and thicknesses) and other process-related parameters (such as mould coverage) on the tensile properties of recycled aggregate-reinforced composites have been investigated. The tensile properties of all composite samples are tested according to ISO 527-4 test method and the significance of test results is evaluated according to Student’s t-test and Fisher’s F-test respectively. It is observed that the tensile moduli of the recycled panels are close to the equivalent quasi-isotropic continuous fibre-reinforced reference laminate while there is a noteworthy difference in the strengths of the recycled composites. At this stage, the manufactured recycled composites show potential for stiffness-driven application.