Industrial Crops and Products 42 (2013) 601–612

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Industrial Crops and Products

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Abacá (Musa textilis) grades and their properties—A study of reproducible fibre
characterization and a critical evaluation of existing grading systems
Stephan Richter a , Kathrin Stromann b,c , Jörg Müssig a,∗
a
Hochschule Bremen – University of Applied Sciences, Faculty 5/Biomimetics – Biological Materials, Neustadtswall 30, 28199 Bremen, Germany
b
Faserinstitut Bremen e.V. – FIBRE, Am Biologischen Garten 2, 28359 Bremen, Germany
c
Lufthansa Technik Logistik GmbH, Hamburg, Germany

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The primary objective of the study was the investigation of the tensile properties of abacá (Musa textilis)
Received 30 March 2012 fibre bundles and how the fibre bundle quality depends on the grading. For this purpose all market
Received in revised form 31 May 2012 relevant abacá grades were determined regarding to tensile properties, fibre bundle width, and colour
Accepted 18 June 2012
by budget priced methods that guarantee an excellent reproducibility.
It was found that the classical grading by visual inspection is only applicable for hand-stripped fibre
Keywords:
bundles. In approximation, the fibre bundle width increased from the excellent grades to the residual
Abacá
grades while the tensile strength decreased. This was not true for spindle-stripped fibre bundles that had
CIELab colour
Fibreshape almost equal tensile strengths over the whole grading range. It was found that the knife serration number
Grading (a main dissimilarity of the two extraction methods) influenced the abacá quality significantly.
Strength Moreover, the CIELab-value a* (redness indicator) of the fibre bundles depends on their position in the
Weibull analyses pseudostem. We hypothesized that the position dependent colour change is based on a gradual change
in lignification. It could be shown that an automated qualification of the colour (CIELab-system) and the
fibre bundle width (Fibreshape-system) could be a great benefit for the abacá grading.
© 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction is much ongoing research activity investigating abacá reinforced

Musa textilis, better known as abacá or manila hemp is a mono-
cotyledonous plant endemic to the Philippines. The term “manila
hemp” is not conformance to the system of a consistent terminol-
ogy because abacá is neither grown around Manila (Batra, 2007) nor
a bast fibre like hemp (Cannabis sativa L.). Thus, not to mix up Musa
textilis with hemp, the leaf fibre plant will henceforth be referred
as abacá (Schnegelsberg, 1999).
Abacá is a species of the Musaceae family (banana plants) with
little non-edible fruits full of seeds. Its pseudostem can grow up
to 6.5 m and is build of 10–25 sheaths that grow from a central
core, so that the oldest sheaths are located at the stalk periphery
(Göltenboth and Mühlbauer, 2010). Abacá has been a source for nat-
ural fibre bundle extraction for decades and has been reported as a
widely used fibre in the beginning of the 20th century. It was used to
fabricate cordage, ropes, and cables, but also woven textiles, coiled
baskets, bags, laces, hats, and furniture were manufactured from
abacá (Edwards and Saleeby, 1910; Muller, 1913). Today the major
product from abacá is pulp (CFC and FIGHF, 2009a; Göltenboth
and Mühlbauer, 2010) for the paper production. However, there
∗ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: jmuessig@bionik.hs-bremen.de (J. Müssig).
natural fibre composites (Agung et al., 2011; Bledzki et al., 2007,
2008, 2009, 2010; Girones et al., 2011; Haque et al., 2010; Rahman
et al., 2009; Vilaseca et al., 2010). Abacá is a natural fibre source
with excellent tensile properties because of its cell wall architec-
ture. The cell wall consists of water soluables (1.4%), fat and wax
(0.2–3%), pectin (0.5–1%), lignin (5–13%), hemicellulose (19–25%)
and mainly of cellulose (56–68%) (Müssig et al., 2010). Regarding
the different positions of the fibres in the pseudostem, differences
in the biochemical composition may be expected (Escolando et al.,
1971). In banana plants the cellulose micro fibrils, mostly respon-
sible for load bearing, are aligned parallel (10–13◦ ) in respect to
the cell axis. That leads to a low extensible fibre (4%) with a high
tensile strength (600 MPa) and a high Young’s modulus (50 GPa),
typical for abacá (Müssig et al., 2010).
The demand of abacá on the world market is mainly fed by the
Philippines (85%) and Ecuador (15%) (Halos, 2008). Abacá cultiva-
tion and harvesting is an important economic factor for the rural
population in these countries. For the households producing abacá,
it is an essential income source and in some cases the only ability
for cash income (Lacuna-Richman, 2002).
Abacá is harvested by hand when fully matured, which is indi-
cated by the presence of a flag leaf. At this stage the plant delivers
fibre bundles with best properties. For harvesting the pseudostems
were cut and the leaves were removed using a sharp machete. The

0926-6690/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2012.06.025
602 S. Richter et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 42 (2013) 601–612
outer layer of the sheaths that contains the primary fibre bundles
is separated from the inner layer. The separated outer layers are
called tuxies (Göltenboth and Mühlbauer, 2010).
For the fibre bundle extraction tuxies are clamped between
two blades and pulled through the distance between the blades
either manually (hand-stripped) or by a rotating spindle (spindle-
stripped). This process allows the removal of vascular and
parenchymatic tissues. While spindle-stripping systems always
work with non-serrated knifes, workers use for hand-stripped
abacá in some cases serrated blades to ease the exhausting fibre
separation (Table 1). An alternative way for fibre bundle extrac-
tion is the mechanical decortication (Göltenboth and Mühlbauer,
2010). It makes tuxying dispensable but only fibre bundles with
moderate tensile properties can be produced. The fibre bundle
capacity depends strongly on the extraction method. A worker
produces 15–25 kg day−1 by hand-stripping, 80–120 kg day−1 by
spindle-stripping, and 120–140 kg day−1 by decortication (CFC and
FIGHF, 2009a,b).
After extraction the fibre bundles must be dried immediately.
Under prevailing weather conditions, the drying will take some
2–4 h. Due to high investment costs, dryer systems are not in use.
This deficit can result in an increased drying period of 1–3 days,
especially in the rainy season. This prolongation influences the fibre
quality negatively, most notably for hand-stripped fibre bundles
because of impurities (Göltenboth and Mühlbauer, 2010).
Mechanical properties of natural fibres are strongly related to
the growing conditions in terms of climate and fertilization, har-
vesting time and cycles, harvesting instruments, and many more.
To guarantee a constant fibre quality throughout the whole year
different classification systems have been established (Drieling and
Müssig, 2010). For abacá a grading system with 15 classes has been
published (BFIS, 1978; Sinon, 2008) that prescribes a qualitative
classification of the fibre bundles by their cleaning and colour, but
texture and fibre bundle length are of equal interest (Table 1).
The classification characteristics are affected by the location of
the sheath inside the pseudostem. While fibre bundles from the
outer 5 to 7 sheaths are dark in colour and have only moderate
mechanical properties, the ones extracted from the middle and
inner sheaths are ivory white and offer an excellent high tensile
strength (Göltenboth and Mühlbauer, 2010).
The qualification has been done by grading and balling establish-
ments (GBEs) and not by the farmers themselves. Till these days,
GBEs grade abacá only by visual inspection, which is both time con-
suming and costly (Göltenboth and Mühlbauer, 2010). Moreover,
the grading process is not reproducible either by farmers or the
manufacturing industry.
The present article provides a first reproducible documentation
of the abacá fibre bundle quality regarding the stripping process
and the grading. One primary objective was the investigation of
the main characteristics that influence the fibre bundle qualifi-
cation by today’s technical standard. For this purpose all market
relevant abacá grades were examined with respect to tensile prop-
erties, fibre bundle width, and colour. Analyses were done using
methods that guarantee an excellent statistical amount and a good
reproducibility. Statistical tools like Weibull analyses were used not
only to handle great variances, typical for natural fibres, but also
to provide a good comparability between the investigated abacá
grades and other natural and technical fibres.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Abacá samples
Fibre bundles from 7 hand-stripped (S2, S3, I, G, JK, M1 and Y2; cf.
Table 1) and 8 spindle-stripped (S-S2, S-S3, S-I, S-G, S-H, S-JK, S-M1
and S-Y; cf. Table 1) abacá (Musa textilis) grades were analyzed with
respect to tensile properties, fibre bundle width, and colouration.
Fibre bundles were extracted from tuxies either by hand, or alter-
natively by a half automatic abacá stripping machine. In this study
decortication as a separation process for fibre bundles was excluded
because of the process-related coarse fibre quality. After stripping
the fibre bundles were sorted by hand to different grades, according
to a standardized grading system (BFIS, 1978; Sinon, 2008). Samples
were provided by the FIDA (Fiber Industry Development Authority,
Quezon City, The Philippines).
2.2. Tensile properties
Determination of the tensile properties took place in a standard
climate at 20 ◦ C and 65% relative humidity, according to ISO 139.
Tensile characteristics of the fibre bundles were tested with a uni-
versal testing machine Instron 4502 (Instron Deutschland GmbH,
Pfungstadt, Germany), according to DIN EN ISO 5079. Before testing
single fibre bundles were preloaded according to DIN EN ISO 5079
with a mass of 18.5 g and clamed into a Pressley specimen holder
with a PVC coating. For all abacá grades and blends an experimental
amount of 50 single fibre bundles were tested in a single element
test at a gauge length of 3.2 mm to tensile strength, elongation at
break and Young’s modulus with a testing speed of 1 mm min−1 .
Statistical analysis based on JMP10 (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC,
USA).
2.3. Fibre bundle thickness
A statistical meaningful characterization of the fibre bundle
width is very difficult because of the great variances. For the char-
acterization of the fibre bundle width the Fibreshape measuring
system equipped with a high-resolution scanner was used (Schmid,
1999; Schmid and Müssig, 2004). This quality control and char-
acterization system allows a rapid determination of fibre bundle
width (>20 ␮m) with a good reproducibility due to the high possible
experimental amount and a uniform illumination and focus for all
measurements. For the determination of fibre bundle width, abacá
fibre bundles with a length of approximately 2–5 cm were evenly
spread on a transparent band-conveyer (297 mm × 840 mm) and
scanned stepwise (4 times DIN A4) with an Epson Perfection V700
Photo scanner (Epson Deutschland GmbH, Meerbusch, Germany) at
a resolution of 1200 dpi. For the image analysis the software Fibre-
shape 5.1 (IST AG, Vilters, Switzerland) was used. The evaluation
occurred with a calibrated measuring mask epson 1200 dpi rectangle
calibrated. Statistical analysis based on JMP10.
2.4. Colour
For the communication and universal interpretation of the abacá
fibre colour a standardized test technique was used because the
subjective colour impression is influenced by many factors like the
size, the surface structure, the humidity and the background of the
object, the source of light, the angle of observation, and the individ-
ual colour vision. In this study the CIE 1976 L*a*b* (CIELab) colour
space from the International Comission on Illumination (CIE) was
used (ISO 11664-4). The CIELab is based on a three-dimensional
colour space defined by the coordinates L*, a*, and b* whereby
(L*) is a value for the lightness (0 = dark; 100 = light), a* represents
greenness (−a*) to redness (+a*) and b* represents blueness (−b*) to
yellowness (+b*). The determination of the fibre colour took place
in a standard climate at 20 ◦ C and 65% relative humidity, according
to ISO 139. For all abacá grades 3 samples á 4 g were taken from the
raw abacá and flattened in a hydraulic hand press (PerkinElmer,
Rodgau, Jügesheim, Germany) for 10 s. Colour characteristics were
determined with a spectral photometer CM2600d (Konica Minolta,
Table 1
Quality standards (Sinon, 2008) and averaged market prices (FIDA, 2006) in 2006 for abacá fibre bundles. All prices are denoted in Philippine Pesos (1 D = 60.67–68.23 PHP; minimal and maximal closing price for the year 2006
(Finanzen net GmbH, 2011)).

Grade Cleaning Texture Length Colour Group of leaf sheaths Knife serration Price in PHP per kg

S. Richter et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 42 (2013) 601–612

Quality Fibre bundle width Hand-stripped Spindle-stripped

AD Superior-current Excellent Pure fibre Soft Long Ivory white to white Inner 0 – –
EF Mid-current Normal-long Light ivory to very light Middle 0 – –
brown
S2 Streaky two Normal Light ochre to very Next to outer 0 46.53 47.06
light brown
S3 Streaky three Short-normal Dark red to dark brown Outer 0 28.65 29.3

I Current Good 0.5 mm Medium to soft Normal-long Light to very light Inner and middle 24 46.04 46.92
brown
G Soft seconds Normal Dingy white Light Next to outer 24 40.88 41.93
brown Dull brown
H Soft brown 0.75 mm Short-normal Dark brown colour of Outer 24 23.47 24.13
stalk
JK Seconds Fair 1 mm Medium Normal-long Dull brown to dingy Inner middle next to outer 17 34.29 35.02
light brown
M1 Medium brown 1.5 mm Medium Short-normal Nearly black – 17 20.49 20.9

L Coarse Coarse 1–1.5 mm Harsh Normal-long Brownish – 14 – –

Y1 Damage fine (Y1 includes residual fibre bundles from AD, EF, S2, S3, I, and G) 26.08 26.05
Y2 Damage medium coarse (Y2 includes residual fibre bundles from H, JK, M1 and L) 24.57 25.06
O Strings (Fibre bundles, used for the tying of the fibre bales are graded to O) 0.66 0.58
T Tow (The reject unstripped ends of the fibre bundles are graded to T) 0.56 0.55
WS Wide strips (All fibre bundles that cannot covered by the grading system are classified to WS) – –

603
604 S. Richter et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 42 (2013) 601–612
Fig. 1. Box plots of the tensile strength (A), Young’s modulus (B), tensile strain (C), and the bundle width (D) of the abacá fibre bundles. Hand-stripped grades are white and
spindle-stripped grades grey filled.
Langenhagen, Germany) on three positions (0◦ , 120◦ , 240◦ ) on the
up- and downside of the slightly compressed sample blocks. Mea-
surements were evaluated with the software Qtex (Sedo Treepoint
GmbH, Mengerskirchen, Germany) with the following calibration
profile: CIELab, 10◦ standard observer, illuminant D65, SCE (diffuse
reflection without orientation). Statistical analysis based on JMP10.
3. Results
3.1. Abaca grades and their characteristics
Fibre bundles from abacá came up with highly scattered results
for their tensile properties and widths (Table 2). To handle the scat-
ter and for a first overview the tensile strength (), the Young’s
modulus (E), the elongation at break (ε) and the width of the fibre
bundles (d) were pictured as box plots (Fig. 1A–D). While fibre
bundle width was not normal distributed at all, data for the ten-
sile strength, the Young’s modulus and the elongation at break was
either distributed normally or not (Table A.1). The comparison of
the grades by Student’s t and Wilcoxon test (Tables A.2–A.5) indi-
cated that tensile strength depends on the stripping method. For
spindle-stripping the grading had no significant effect on the ten-
sile strength with the exception of the residual grade S-Y and S-S3
(Table A.2). This was not true for hand-stripped fibre bundles where
most grades were significant different (Table A.2).
For hand-stripped fibre bundles the median value of the ten-
sile strength was between 43.92 cN tex−1 (Y2) and 76.20 cN tex−1
(S2). The Young’s modulus was found to be between 7.57 N tex−1
(S3) and 15.08 N tex−1 (S2). The elongation at break was expect-
edly low and lies between 5.28% (I) and 10.58% (S3) and the fibre
bundle width was between 166 ␮m (S2) and 217 ␮m (M1). Spindle-
stripped fibre bundles showed a tensile strength between 48.32 cN
tex−1 (S-M1) and 75.15 cN tex−1 (S-S3). The Young’s modulus was
found to be between 8.52 N tex−1 (S-Y) and 15.99 N tex−1 (S-G), the
elongation at break between 4.75% (S-S2) and 10.06% (S-Y) and the
fibre bundle width between 155 ␮m (S-H) and 185 ␮m (S-M1).
3.1.1. Weibull strength and width
In order to improve the comparability of the highly scattered
tensile properties and fibre bundle width values, the characteristic
fibre bundle strength ( c ) and width (dc ) as well as its associated
Weibull modulus (m) were calculated from a modified Weibull dis-
tribution (Xia et al., 2009) (Table 2). Compared to all other grades,
the regression coefficient (R2 ) of the characteristic strength of S2
was beneath 0.9 because one fibre bundle showed an exception-
ally high strength. Irrespective of the abacá grade and extraction
 S. Richter et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 42 (2013) 601–612 605

Table 2
Mechanical characteristics (tensile strain (ε); tensile strength (); Young’s modulus (E)) and fibre bundle width (d) from the hand-stripped (S2 to Y2) and spindle-stripped
(S-S2 to S-Y) grades. For () and (d) the Weibull parameters were calculated.

Specimen Cleaning quality Value N Mean s Median Weibull average Weibull Weibull fitment R2 of the
value (x)c modulus fitment

S2 Excellent ε in % 50 6.94 3.28 5.70 – – – –

E in N tex−1 50 15.71 6.58 15.08 – – – –
 in cN tex−1 50 78.55 17.48 76.20 85.11 5.42 f(x) = 5.42x–24.10 0.88
d in ␮m 7968 179 97 166 200 2.29 f(x) = 2.29x–12.15 0.98
S3 ε in % 46 11.37 4.36 10.58 – – – –
E in N tex−1 46 7.68 2.02 7.57 – – – –
 in cN tex−1 46 66.21 27.04 65.21 74.98 2.48 f(x) = 2.48x–10.72 0.99
d in ␮m 6718 185 91 186 210 2.06 f(x) = 2.06x–11.01 0.97

I Good ε in % 51 5.44 1.46 5.28 – – – –

E in N tex−1 51 12.66 4.87 12.43 – – – –
 in cN tex−1 51 56.73 26.91 50.45 64.21 2.27 f(x) = 2.27x–9.43 0.99
d in ␮m 4824 200 126 180 223 1.84 f(x) = 1.84x–9.97 0.98
G ε in % 50 7.67 2.44 7.55 – – – –
E in N tex−1 50 11.53 3.35 10.63 – – – –
 in cN tex−1 50 68.34 21.68 68.79 78.42 2.68 f(x) = 2.68x–11.69 0.91
d in ␮m 5056 243 152 214 270 1.77 f(x) = 1.77x–9.92 0.98

JK Fair ε in % 50 7.83 4.94 6.78 – – – –

E in N tex−1 50 9.04 2.41 8.97 – – – –
 in cN tex−1 50 47.45 14.44 48.65 52.88 3.41 f(x) = 3.41x–13.54 0.99
d in ␮m 2858 297 282 192 303 1.30 f(x) = 1.30x–7.42 0.93
M1 ε in % 50 9.13 4.31 9.20 – – – –
E in N tex−1 49 8.45 3.50 7.85 – – – –
 in cN tex−1 50 54.54 16.31 56.57 61.03 3.33 f(x) = 3.33x–13.70 0.97
d in ␮m 2785 281 250 217 296 1.41 f(x) = 1.41x–8.00 0.95

Y2 Residual ε in % 50 5.96 2.59 5.95 – – – –

E in N tex−1 47 9.52 2.88 9.55 – – – –
 in cN tex−1 50 42.85 19.84 43.92 49.93 1.76 f(x) = 1.76x–6.89 0.95
d in ␮m 5106 209 142 181 231 1.79 f(x) = 1.79x–9.76 0.97

S-S2 Excellent ε in % 50 4.98 1.71 4.75 – – – –

E in N tex−1 50 16.08 3.20 15.28 – – – –
 in cN tex−1 50 69.93 21.62 67.33 76.34 3.70 f(x) = 3.70x–16.06 0.95
d in ␮m 5724 215 144 183 246 1.60 f(x) = 1.60x–8.81 0.96
S-S3 ε in % 50 6.49 1.71 6.14 – – – –
E in N tex−1 50 14.45 2.64 14.00 – – – –
 in cN tex−1 50 76.61 15.02 75.17 82.69 5.74 f(x) = 5.75x–25.37 0.94
d in ␮m 7122 192 127 169 212 1.98 f(x) = 1.98x–10.60 0.97

S-I Good ε in % 50 6.66 1.62 6.52 – – – –

E in N tex−1 50 12.74 2.46 12.85 – – – –
 in cN tex−1 50 66.52 16.11 69.44 73.37 4.15 f(x) = 4.14x–17.78 0.98
d in ␮m 6907 185 142 154 201 1.75 f(x) = 1.75x–9.29 0.95
S-G ε in % 50 5.22 1.55 4.84 – – – –
E in N tex−1 50 15.78 2.68 15.99 – – – –
 in cN tex−1 50 66.53 17.23 68.17 73.16 4.20 f(x) = 4.20x–18.03 0.98
d in ␮m 6969 202 154 171 220 1.75 f(x) = 1.75x–9.44 0.96
S-H ε in % 50 4.93 1.44 5.03 – – – –
E in N tex−1 50 14.21 3.88 14.26 – – – –
 in cN tex−1 50 63.32 21.55 65.01 72.44 2.63 f(x) = 2.63x–11.27 0.94
d in ␮m 4838 183 143 155 200 1.78 f(x) = 1.78x–9.40 0.95

S-JK Fair ε in % 49 7.00 1.81 7.06 – – – –

E in N tex−1 49 11.19 2.45 11.25 – – – –
 in cN tex−1 49 68.33 14.29 67.72 75.29 4.86 f(x) = 4.86x–21.00 0.94
d in ␮m 4836 227 174 180 283 1.56 f(x) = 1.60x–8.81 0.96
S-M1 ε in % 55 9.99 4.89 8.44 – – – –
E in N tex−1 55 10.07 4.12 9.59 – – – –
 in cN tex−1 55 61.22 30.57 48.32 69.36 2.18 f(x) = 2.18x–9.24 0.94
d in ␮m 6152 206 132 185 229 1.81 f(x) = 1.81x–9.82 0.98

S-Y Residual ε in % 49 9.37 4.78 10.06 – – – –

E in N tex−1 47 9.71 4.78 8.52 – – – –
 in cN tex−1 49 57.85 16.20 59.22 65.41 3.13 f(x) = 3.13x–13.07 0.93
d in ␮m 7209 193 133 172 212 1.89 f(x) = 1.89x–10.11 0.97

Table 3
Weibull moduli for some natural fibre bundles.

Fibre Stress dependent Weibull moduli Width dependent Weibull moduli Literature

Abacá – 4.2a Peponi et al. (2008)a

Flax 1.22a 2.7b Biagiotti et al. (2004)a and Peponi et al. (2008)b
Jute 1.19–2.18a 2.4b Xia et al. (2009)a and Peponi et al. (2008)b
Sisal 3.0–4.6a 4.2b Silva et al. (2010)a and Peponi et al. (2008)b

Superscript letters a and b refer to the cited literature.

606 S. Richter et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 42 (2013) 601–612
Fig. 2. Characteristic fibre bundle strength and width of hand-stripped (white) and
spindle-stripped (grey) grades. For linear regression the hand-stripped grades S2 to
M1 were considered. Numbers mark the amount of knife serrations.
method the determined Weibull moduli for all fibre bundles were
relative low, a common characteristic for natural fibres (Table 3).
For hand-stripped fibre bundles a strong correlation between
the characteristic fibre bundle width (dc ) and the abacá grade (with
exception of the residual grade Y2) was obvious (Fig. 2). While the
excellent grades (S2 and S3) were very fine (dc = 200–210 ␮m) the
fair grades (JK and M1) had an approximately 100 ␮m thicker char-
acteristic fibre bundle width (dc ) and low Weibull moduli (Table 2).
Moreover, it was determined that the knife serration of the strip-
ping knife had a strong effect on the width of hand-stripped fibre
bundles (Fig. 2).
The correlation between the characteristic fibre bundle width
(dc ) and the abacá grade did not apply for spindle-stripped fibre
bundles that were processed exclusively with non-serrated knifes.
In that case the most grades came with a characteristic fibre bun-
dle width (dc ) between 200 and 230 ␮m with the exception of
S-S2 (246 ␮m) and S-JK (283 ␮m). The lowest Weibull moduli for
spindle-stripped fibre bundles were found in S-S2 (1.6) and S-JK
(1.56).
As well as the fibre bundle width, the characteristic strength
( c ) of hand-stripped fibre bundles tended to hinge on the abacá
grade (Fig. 2). While the excellent grades came with a  c = 74.98 cN
tex−1 (S3) to  c = 85.11 cN tex−1 (S2), fair grades show only a char-
acteristic strength between 52.88 cN tex−1 (JK) and 61.03 cN tex−1
(M1) (Table 2). Y2 that includes residual fibre bundles from S2 to G
came with the lowest characteristic strength (49.93 cN tex−1 ) and
Weibull modulus (1.76).
For spindle-stripped abacá no connection between the char-
acteristic strength ( c ) and grading was found (Fig. 2). Most of
the spindle-stripped grades came with a characteristic strength
above 70 cN tex−1 , while the highest  c was found for the excel-
lent grades (S-S2: 76.34 cN tex−1 ; S-S3: 82.69 cN tex−1 ). Only the
residual grade S-Y2 that includes fibre bundles from S-S2 to S-G
had a characteristic strength beneath 70 cN tex−1 (65.41 cN tex−1 )
(Table 2).
Moreover, the characteristic strength was found to be higher,
in most cases, for spindle-stripped fibre bundles than for hand-
stripped ones, with exception of S2 and G. Additionally, the Weibull
modulus for spindle-striped grades was approximately 50% (JK/S-
JK) to more than 100% (S3/S-S3) higher, with exception of S2 and
M1 (Table 2).
Fig. 3. CIELab-values L*, a* and b* of hand-stripped (white) and spindle-stripped
(grey) grades.
3.1.2. Abacá grades and their associated colour profile
On the basis of photometer measurements the colour and light-
ness of the abacá grades were analyzed. CIELab-values were normal
distributed, with the exception of S-G (L*) and S-M1 (a*). The posi-
tive CIELab-values b* and a* indicated a yellow/red colouration for
all abacá grades (Table 4).
The grading within one cleaning quality (Table 1: excellent, good,
or fair) had a visible effect on the CIELab-values L* and a* (Fig. 3 and
Table A.6). Superior grades within one fibre quality were significant
lighter (higher L*) and for excellent and good fibre qualities less red
(lower a*). Only for the fair cleaning qualities the superior grade
showed a higher a*-value.
L*-coordinates that characterize the specimen lightness were
found in spindle-stripped fibre bundles slightly higher or approx-
imately equal compared to hand-stripped grades (Table 4).
Differences regarding the extraction method were especially found
for the CIELab-value a* (Table 4). While a* was for S2 and S-S2
roughly equal, the remaining grades came with a significant higher
a*-value for hand-stripped fibre bundles than for spindle-stripped
ones, with an exception of the residual grades.
For the CIELab-value b* no trend regarding the grading or extrac-
tion method was obvious.
A strong correlation between the characteristic strength of the
fibre bundles and their colouration was not found. Nonetheless, for
the CIELab-values L* and a* a slight trend was existent.
3.2. Effects of fibre bundle position in the pseudostem
Effects of the extraction position in the pseudostem on fibre
bundle characteristics (characteristic strength and width, CIELab-
values L* and a*) were analyzed (Fig. 4). Therefore, all grades those
positions were known (c.f. Table 1) were considered. The pseu-
dostem could be defined in 3 positions: (i) inner and middle (I;
S-I), (ii) next to outer (S2, G; S-S2, S-G), and (iii) outer (S3; S-S3,
S-H).
For the CIELab-values L* and a* a clear trend was visible. The
determined fibre bundles darkened continuously from the inner
and middle position to the outer position in the pseudostem. Fur-
thermore a constant increase of the CIELab a*-value was found and
consequently fibre bundles from the inner and middle leaf sheaths
were less red than these ones from the outer leaf sheaths.
For the characteristic width and strength no constant trend
regarding the fibre bundle position in the pseudostem was found.
 S. Richter et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 42 (2013) 601–612 607

Table 4
CIELab-coordinates for the hand stripped (S2 to Y) and spindle stripped grades (S-S2 to S-Y). L* represents the lightness, a* represents the redness and b* represents the
yellowness.

Specimen Cleaning quality N L* a* b*

S2 Excellent 18 73.73 ± 2.33 4.63 ± 0.31 18.99 ± 0.77

S3 18 60.68 ± 6.79 6.29 ± 0.90 16.25 ± 1.56
I Good 18 71.34 ± 3.73 4.85 ± 0.64 18.09 ± 0.94
G 18 65.44 ± 3.07 5.58 ± 0.73 21.07 ± 1.03
JK Fair 18 63.71 ± 4.41 6.94 ± 0.81 22.28 ± 1.29
M1 18 47.54 ± 4.77 6.59 ± 0.84 16.64 ± 1.72
Y2 Residual 18 58.39 ± 3.68 6.46 ± 0.65 22.84 ± 1.47
S-S2 Excellent 18 75.45 ± 2.76 4.65 ± 0.65 18.26 ± 1.32
S-S3 18 62.00 ± 4.68 5.32 ± 0.68 17.91 ± 1.68
S-I Good 18 75.62 ± 2.90 4.25 ± 0.27 18.96 ± 0.71
S-G 18 66.70 ± 4.56 4.66 ± 0.62 18.82 ± 1.38
S-H 18 56.25 ± 4.85 4.86 ± 0.60 14.77 ± 1.57
S-JK Fair 18 62.99 ± 6.72 5.92 ± 0.80 20.60 ± 1.64
S-M1 18 55.23 ± 4.79 5.01 ± 1.02 14.94 ± 2.83
S-Y Residual 18 61.94 ± 3.08 6.90 ± 0.92 21.39 ± 1.36

However, it seems like the knife serration had a stronger effect on
the width and strength. Fibre bundles extracted with non-serrated
blades showed almost similar widths and strengths irrespective
of the extraction method. They were finer and had a higher
characteristic strength than fibre bundles extracted with serrated
blades.
4. Discussion
4.1. Natural variability of abacá fibre bundles
The tensile properties of abacá fibre bundles at a gauge length
of 3.2 mm are not only dependent on cell wall mechanics, but also

Fig. 4. Characteristic width and strength, CIELab L*- and a*-values of hand-stripped (white) and spindle-stripped (grey) fibre bundles, plotted against the fibre position in the
abacá pseudostem. Crosses mark the different characteristic fibre bundle widths, with regard to the serration number: G (24 serrations) and S2 (zero serrations). Numbers
mark the amount of knife serrations.
608 S. Richter et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 42 (2013) 601–612
determined by the middle lamella because the lengths of single
fibres vary between 2 and 12 mm (Müssig et al., 2010). The middle
lamella can be thought of as a natural adhesive that holds the single
fibres together in the fibre bundle (Schnegelsberg, 1999). For abacá
fibre bundles the mean and its standard deviation had only a limited
power to describe the tensile properties and the width because of
the scattering of the data.
The scattering is a consequence of the variability of natural fibre
bundles that is a result from the adaptational growth of plants (Eder
and Burgert, 2010). To handle the symptomatic scatter of natu-
ral fibre bundles statistical value like the median, the interquartile
range between the 25th and 75th percentile, the upper and lower
whisker, and the maximum and minimum should be used for the
evaluation. For a good overview about these parameters boxplots
are helpful. In order to improve the comparability within the mea-
surement set, but also with other natural or technical fibre types,
a modified Weibull analysis (Alemdar et al., 2008; Peponi et al.,
2008) is powerful. Hereby, fibre bundle characteristics like tensile
properties and fineness can be described by an average value of
the property (e.g. the characteristic strength) and a dimensionless
shape value (the Weibull modulus). The Weibull modulus is related
to the dispersion of the data, while a high modulus is characteris-
tically for a low dispersion about the mean.
The adaptational growth of abacá is also the reason for a 30%
higher lignification of fibre bundles from the outer position in
the pseudostem, regarding these ones from the inner pseudostem
(Sinon, 2008). Due to the fact that lignin degrades by UV light in
a photochemical process to form brownish water-soluble decom-
positions (Jayasekara and Amarasinghe, 2010) the determined
gradual change in lightness and especially redness (CIELab L* and
a*) can be interpreted as a gradual change in lignin, while fibre bun-
dles from the inner and middle position came with a lower lignin
content than fibre bundles from the outer position (Fig. 4). The slight
influence of CIELab-values L* and a* on the characteristic fibre bun-
dle strength indicates an embrittlement of the cell walls through
to a lignification process of the cellulose fibres. Lignin limits the
mobility of the micro fibrils and makes the cell wall more hydropho-
bic (Vincent, 2006) and hence embrittles the fibre. This hypothesis
should be proofed by investigating the tensile properties and the
lignification as well as the cell wall architecture (micro fibril angle)
stepwise from the inner to the outer leaf sheath.
4.2. Extraction process and fibre bundle characteristics
For abacá the method of fibre bundle extraction swayed the
affection of the grading on the characteristic width and strength
(Fig. 2). On the one hand, the characteristic width and strength of
hand-stripped fibre bundles hinge on the abacá grade in an antipo-
dal way. On the other hand, for spindle-stripped fibre bundles no
trend was obvious. That indicates that the tensile strength of an
abacá fibre bundle depends on its geometry: the less the fibre bun-
dle width, the less the probability of a microscopic failure and the better
the tensile strength. Hence, the mechanical behaviour of the brittle
abacá fibre bundles can be described with the weakest link model
in that one microscopic failure causes the failure of the macroscopic
fibre bundle (Griffith, 1921).
As a matter of form it has to be said that the measured data for
the fibre bundle width did not correlate perfectly with the fibre
bundle strength. One main reason could be the selective choice of
a low amount of test samples (approximately 50) for the tensile
test. This is not true for the fineness measurements, because the
high number of tested samples (2785–7968) should result in a very
good estimation of the basic population.
The dissimilar impact of the stripping method on the fibre bun-
dle width can be explained by the strong relation between serration
number and width. While for hand-stripped fibre bundles only the
excellent grades (S; S3) were processed with non-serrated knifes,
spindle-stripped systems always working with no serrations. Fibre
bundles processed with no serrations were very fine (dc approx-
imately 200–230 ␮m; exception S-S2 und S-JK), while serrated
knifes cause an increase of the fibre bundle width (up to approxi-
mately 300 ␮m). The decrease of fibre bundle quality rises with a
decrease of the serration number.
However, it can be concluded that the knife serration influ-
enced the fibre bundle width and hence, the characteristic strength.
Spindle-stripping resulted not only in a finer fibre quality (in most
cases), but also in a constantly high characteristic strength above
70 cN tex−1 (exception S-Y) with associated Weibull moduli that
were found 50 to more than 100% higher as in hand-stripped abacá
(exception S-S2, S-M1).
4.3. Manual abacá grading – advantages vs. disadvantages
For the colouration of the determined abacá fibre bundles the
grading concept works fine, within one cleaning quality (cf. Table 1
and Fig. 3). That may be, because every cleaning quality is assem-
bled of grades that includes fibre bundles either extracted from the
inner, middle, next to outer, or outer leaf sheaths. Nonetheless, it
was obvious that the manual classification of the colour within all
grades is difficult and fault-prone. For example, the colour of the
grade S2 is described as “light ochre to very light brown” and I as
“light to very light brown”, while the CIELab-values for both grades
were almost identical. Obviously, the personal colour vision and
the disparate test conditions (e.g. light source) have a strong effect
on the manual colour determination.
For the fibre bundle width (cf. cleaning quality in Table 1) and
strength the grading concept worked only for hand-stripped fibre
bundles, because the fibre bundle width depended mainly on the
knife serration. The width and strength of spindle-stripped fibre
bundles were not related to the grading. From this follows not only
that the width and strength of spindle-stripped fibre bundles are
constant over almost all grades. Moreover, fibre bundles within one
grade cannot be compared with each other, if the extraction method
is different or unknown.
4.4. Abacá for natural fibre composites (NFC)
As mentioned in the introduction, abacá has a great potential
for natural fibre composites (NFC). The future prospects for new
NFC-products are quite good because of their low energy costs
during production and a mostly neutral carbon dioxide life cycle
(Carus and Gahle, 2007; Carus et al., 2008; Holbery and Houston,
2006). One successful example for abacá reinforced composites is
the underfloor exterior component for automobiles made by the
long fibre thermoplastic (LFT) process (Scherübl, 2005). Apart from
that, abacá is predestined for standard compounding procedures
because of its good free flowing properties through the rough fibre
bundle structure. Furthermore, the high stiffness of abacá fibre
bundles leads, e.g. to an orientation preference in shear direction
of the extrusion in the injection moulding process. This is inter-
esting for the mechanical properties of the compound, but also
decreases the possibility of fibre bundle agglomerates that could
constipate the nozzle during the injection process. This short out-
line of some advantages should only indicate the big potential for
abacá, e.g. as reinforcement in injection moulded compounds. A
further investigation was that spindle-stripped fibre bundles of
the excellent grades S-S2 and S-S3 varied significantly in the price
(approximately 40% price difference) but had comparable mechan-
ical properties (cf. Tables 1 and 2). Hence, a closer inspection of the
price and the connection between grading and fibre quality could
lead to more economic NFC with abacá as reinforcement. How-
ever, as long as the reproducibility of the abacá grading cannot be
 S. Richter et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 42 (2013) 601–612 609

guaranteed, the establishment of abacá on the NFC-market will be methods, as only a high resolution scanner, software and a colour
difficult because the industry needs abacá in a constant quality and standard is required. Moreover, it is less time consuming than the
quantity throughout the whole year. visual inspection.

5. Conclusion Acknowledgement

It could be shown that an automated qualification of the colour The authors thank Edel M. Dondonilla (Fiber Industry Develop-
(CIELab-system) and the fibre bundle width (Fibreshape-system) ment Authority – FIDA, Quezon City, The Philippines) for supplying
could be a great benefit for the abacá grading. The advantages would the abacá grades.
be an easy and fast sample preparation, minimization of possible
operator errors, and a reproducible documentation of the grading Appendix.
determinants by today’s technical standards. Conventional grading
could be economized by using e.g. the introduced budget-priced See Tables A.1–A.6.

Table A.1
Statistical analyses for normal distribution of the mechanical characteristics (tensile strength (); Young’s modulus (E), tensile strain (ε)), the fibre bundle width (d) and the
CIE-values (L*, a*, b*). Y, normal distributed; N, not normal distributed.

Grade a Ea εa db CIE L*a CIE a*a CIE b*a

S2 N N N N Y Y Y
S3 Y Y N N Y Y Y
I Y Y N N Y Y Y
G Y N N N Y Y Y
JK Y Y N N Y Y Y
M1 Y N Y N Y Y Y
Y2 Y N Y N Y Y Y
S-S2 N N Y N Y Y Y
S-S3 Y N N N Y Y Y
S-I Y Y Y N Y Y Y
S-G Y Y Y N N Y Y
S-H Y Y Y N Y Y Y
S-JK N Y Y N Y Y Y
S-M1 N Y N N Y N Y
S-Y Y N Y N Y Y Y
a
Shapiro–Wilk-W-test.
b
KSL test.

Table A.2
Statistical analyses of the tensile strength by the Wilcoxon Each Pair test (grey) and the Each Pair Student’s t test (white). Crosses mark significant differences within grades.
Grades that are labelled with a square had no significant differences.
610 S. Richter et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 42 (2013) 601–612

Table A.3
Statistical analyses of the Young’s modulus by the Wilcoxon Each Pair test (grey) and the Each Pair Student’s t test (white). Crosses mark significant differences within grades.
Grades that are labelled with a square had no significant differences.

Table A.4
Statistical analyses of the tensile strain by the Wilcoxon Each Pair test (grey) and the Each Pair Student’s t test (white). Crosses mark significant differences within grades.
Grades that are labelled with a square had no significant differences.
 S. Richter et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 42 (2013) 601–612 611

Table A.5
Statistical analyses of the fibre bundle width by the Wilcoxon Each Pair test (grey). Crosses mark significant differences within grades. Grades that are labelled with a square
had no significant differences.

Table A.6
Statistical analyses of the CIE L*a*b* colour profile by the Each Pair Student’s t test. Levels that are not connected by the same letter were significant different.

CIE L* (alpha = 0.05) CIE a* (alpha = 0.05) CIE b* (alpha = 0.05)

Grade Homogeneous groups Mean Grade Homogeneous groups Mean Grade Homogeneous groups Mean

S-I A 75.62 JK A 6.94 Y2 A 22.84

S-S2 A 75.45 S-Y A B 6.90 JK A B 22.28
S2 A B 73.73 M1 A B C 6.59 S-Y B C 21.39
I B 71.34 Y2 B C 6.46 G C 21.07
S-G C 66.70 S3 C D 6.29 S-JK C 20.60
G C D 65.44 S-JK D E 5.92 S2 D 18.99
JK D E 63.71 G E F 5.58 S-I D 18.96
S-JK D E F 62.99 S-S3 F G 5.32 S-G D E 18.82
S-S3 E F 62.00 S-M1 G H 5.01 S-S2 D E 18.26
S-Y E F 61.94 S-H G H 4.86 I D E 18.09
S3 F G 60.68 I G H 4.85 S-S3 E 17.91
Y2 G H 58.39 S-G H I 4.66 M1 F 16.64
S-H H I 56.25 S-S2 H I 4.65 S3 F 16.25
S-M1 I 55.23 S2 H I 4.63 S-M1 G 14.94
M1 J 47.54 S-I I 4.25 S-H G 14.77

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