PHYSICAL AND MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISATION OF TYPHA AUSTRALIS FIBRES

Abstract

Typha australis is an invasive plant from Senegal that is also found in wetlands. In order to limit its proliferation, Typha australis is used in the energy sector but also in construction. This study aims to contribute to the valorisation of Typha australis in the field of biocomposites. For this purpose, Typha fibres were used. The fibres were extracted manually using a plastic comb, then subdivided into three zones, namely the bottom, middle and top of the plant, and dried. The obtained fibres, were characterized physically by measuring density, water content and absorption coefficient, and morphologically by determining the morphology of the section of the fibres.In many ways, the physical property results concerning density showed an average of the three areas of 1.53 g/cm3 with a water content between 6 and 10% and an absorption coefficient showing two main absorption phases. Concerning the tomography results, we directly noticed the presence of fibre bundles and not of individual fibres due to the manual extraction method used. In conclusion, the obtained results confirma behaviour comparable to those of the most commonly used natural fibres, namely flax. Typha australis has a real potential as reinforcement in biocomposites.