Development of sunnhemp (Crotalaria juncea) fibre based unconventional fabric

Sunnhemp fibre is an under-exploited natural fibre. In this study, an attempt has been made to explore the possibility of production of unspinnable sunnhemp based unconventional fabric (needle punched nonwoven) for value addition and diversified uses. Mechanical processing for preparation of all sunnhemp, sunnhemp-jute (1:1) and sunnhemp-polypropylene (1:1) blended needle punched nonwoven has been optimised and processing parameters have been suggested. Softening treatment of sunnhemp fibre has been done successfully for better processing. Boiling in water with 1% nonionic detergent for 15 min has been suggested as pre-processing for softening. Tenacity, elongation-at-break, initial modulus, breaking energy, stress relaxation, creep, compressibility, recovery-from-compression, bending load, electrical insulation, thermal insulation, sound insulation, air permeability and frictional force have been evaluated and analysed for all the above-mentioned samples. Based on those properties the probable use has been suggested.