How to determine the tensile strength of plant fibres practically?

Aim The purpose of this investigation is to find out through a well planned expe
riment the tensile strength of plant fibres. Introduction Plant fibres are a ran
ge of fibre-like structures that include long, stretched, thick and lignified cell
walled tubes which can be used for different purposes depending on their proper
ties such as linen and cotton for clothing, ropes, sacking, paper and cardboard.
The cell wall of the plant fibres made up of a net-like arrangement of cellulos
e microfribils which strengthens to the plant fibres. Sclerenchyma fibres that a
re present in plant fibres form secondary cell wall which are dead cells with li
gnin which strengthen the plant fibres even more. The xylem and phloem are also
responsible for plant fibres thick cell wall and hardness due to the lignin on th
e outer part of their vessels. Retting is a process in the manufacturing of vege
table fibres, especially the bast fibres that involves water and microbial actio
n to separate the bast fibres from the woody core (the xylem), and sometimes fro
m the epidermis as well. It is a way of removing fibres from plant stems. Rettin
g can be done by letting the crop that is cut or pulled up to stand in the field
s in the wet Fall, called "dew retting". Bacterial action attacks pectin and lig
nin leaving the cellulose intact so that the cellulose-rich fibres are easy to r
emove. This process can be a very labour-intensive process due to the monitoring
of the stems during retting that needs to be done to avoid excessive deteriorat
ion of the fibres. The tensile strength which is the amount of tensile stress th
at the removed fibres can cope before it breaks is measured. Through this the di
fferent suitable uses of the fibre can be figured like ropes for climbing could
be made from a plant fibre which has a certain amount of stress tolerant for it
to be suitable to carry a person. Variables: Independent: Plant Dependent: Mass
Control: Thickness of each plant fibre, length of each plant fibre, the way the
mass was hung for each plant fibre. Equipment: 1. Scalpel or razor blade 2. Forc
eps 3. Leaf of a monocotyledon 4. Clamp 5. Clamp stand 6. Mass 7. Rubber tubes 8
. Foams 9. Bulldog clips

Investigation 1: Trial Method 1. Carefully scrap the surface layer of tissue fro
m each side of the leaf using just fingernails, razor blade or scalpels. 2. Sepa
rate the fibres using forceps. 3. Set the clamp and the clamp stand by attaching
the clamp to a clamp stand with the clamp stand placing vertically on a table.
4. Place the thick foams or cloth under where the masses will be hung on the pla
nt fibres. 5. Make a loop on one end of the fibre where the masses can be hung.
6. Put the other end of the plant fibre through a rubber tube and bend it. Using
a bulldog clip, clip this bent rubber tube with the fibre still inside. 7. Clam
p the bulldog clipped end of the fibre on the clamp. 8. Hang the masses on the l
oop until the plant fibre breaks. 9. Repeat the experiment 3 times with differen
t samples of the same fibre. Investigation 1: Trial - Results Plant Mass held by
the plant Fibre fibre until it snapped/ g 1 350 2 300 This was the trial method
. The flaws of this method included the loop of the plant fibre being undone as
we added masses which were misinterpreted as it looked like the plant fibre had
snapped due to the masses instead. This caused the results to be inaccurate as t
he real tensile strength of the plant fibre was not recorded. Therefore the resu
lts were much lower compare to the results from the investigation after the tria
l. The masses that were hung on the loop each time were not specified. This mean
t that the masses that were hung varied every time and was done randomly. This c
aused errors the masses were irregularly hung on to the plant fibre instead of s
teadily which meant that the results that were recorded didnt correspond to the a
ctual mass that the plant fibre couldve actually held. Also with this method the
length of the plant fibres were not recorded which meant that the lengths varied
making the results biased. Investigation 2: Method 1. Carefully scrap the surfa
ce layer of tissue from each side of the leaf using just fingernails, razor blad
e or scalpels. 2. Separate the fibres using forceps. 3. Set the clamp and the cl
amp stand by attaching the clamp to a clamp stand with the clamp stand placing v
ertically on a table. 4. Place the thick foams or cloth under where the masses w
ill be hung on the plant fibres. 5. Cut the plant fibres so that they are the sa
me length. 6. Put one end of the plant fibre through a rubber tube and bend it.
Clip this bent rubber tube with the fibre still inside. Do the same for the othe
r end of the plant fibre. 7. Hang the clip on the clamp.

8. Hang the mass on the bottom clip in intervals of 100g until the plant fibre b
reaks. 9. Repeat the experiment 3 times with different samples of the same fibre
. Risk Assessment 1. Take care when using a scalpel or razor blade. If an accide
nt does occur inform the teacher immediately. 2. Take care when using the masses
. Make sure there are thick foams or cloth placed for the masses to fall into wh
ich will absorb the force of the falling mass so that there is no accident when
the plant fibre snaps and the masses fall. If an accident does occur inform the
teacher immediately. Investigation 2 - Results Plant Mass held by the fibre befo
re Fibre it snapped/g 1 500 2 700 3 500 4 600 5 700 STDEV 100
Conclusion The mass that the plant fibres can hold until they snap is between 50
0g to 700g. This shows that the extracted fibres are reasonably strong. The fibe
r bundles break in the middle not beside the clamping areas which shows that fib
er strength is not being influenced by the testing apparatus. The graph generate
d from the table of results from investigation 2 doesnt seem to follow a trend. A
s the fibres were of same length, this didnt affect the mass that they held befor
e they snapped. This shows that the length of the plant fibres doesnt affect thei
r strength. An intact stem has less flexibility therefore fibres are stronger th
an an intact stem as they are flexible which avoid them from breaking easily unl
ike the stem they will stretch instead. This is also because the fibres are cell
ulose rich which means that they will have more strength as cellulose is respons
ible for making the plant fibres intact. Therefore this draws a conclusion that
the more cellulose rich a plant fibre is the more intact they are therefore they
are harder to break due to this component in them. Evaluation The second invest
igation that was carried out after the trial investigation was improved in vario
us ways. The method now included two bulldog clips to clip both ends of the plan
t fibre once they were put through the rubber tube to ensure that there wasnt any
error in performing the procedure as there was in the previous investigation wh
ere the loop was undone as the mass was put on and this was misjudged by thinkin
g that the plant fibre had actually snapped but truly it hadnt.

Now that there were bulldog clips on both ends that means that the plant fibres
are more secure and so as more mass was hung the plant actually broke or snapped
when it held a certain amount of mass. The way that the mass was hung on to the
plant fibre was also done steadily this time round and in intervals of 100g eve
ry time which meant that the results now would be more valid. Also the length of
the plant fibres this time round were recorded as the same length therefore thi
s caused the results to be more valid.