Bast fibers are fibers obtained from the stems or leaves of certain plants. There are a lot of such herbaceous representatives of the flora - about 2 thousand. However, the most popular are such as flax, hemp, jute, rope. Wood fibers - those that are obtained from certain types of wood.
What does this fiber look like?
Bast and wood fibers are the "tissue" of plants. Their cells have an elongated shape and pointed ends. Unlike others, their length can be measured in millimeters and even centimeters. But the cross section is in microns. The shell of the fiber is very rigid, the cell practically does not live inside, it is always dead. Over time, lignification of such a cell occurs, and its useful properties are lost. It becomes more brittle and crumbly. The non-lignified fiber cell is rich in cellulose and therefore very flexible and elastic.
Practically, the industry uses not a single fiber, but their conglomerate. The pointed ends of the cells are interconnected with pectin, so the material is quite strong. The latter quality is also due to the fact that in their shell, cellulose febriles are tightly twisted into a spiral (like a rope or rope).
To get a finished high-quality fiber, you need to destroy the stem. Most often this is achieved by soaking. Pectin and other binding substances are destroyed - a whole fiber remains. Sometimes a chemical or mechanical method of obtaining it is used.
What are bast fibers used for?
First, they are widely used in the textile industry to make fabrics and yarns. Not all fibers are suitable for these purposes, but only soft ones. They are made from linen or ramie. Another function of bast fibers is rope and rope products. For these purposes, coarse products (hemp, jute) and hard ones (sisal, abaca) are suitable. Wood fibers are also widely used. They are used in construction for the manufacture of composite materials, in the paper industry.
Linen fibers
Flax is a fairly common crop. Its fiber is the thinnest and most delicate, which is why it is so widely used in the textile industry. To obtain bast fibers, fiber flax is grown. This plant variety got its name from its appearance: its stems are very thin and long, reaching 1 meter. As a percentage, the fibers occupy 20-25% of the mass of the entire plant. The collected flax fiber is tested for strength and purity. An indicator of quality is a small extensibility, resistance to abrasion andmoisture absorption. Yarn is made from linen. Use both long fibers and "combed", that is, waste after combing. Depending on the spinning technology, the yarn may be fluffier or, conversely, smoother.
Fabrics obtained from linen fiber can be of different quality - from the coarsest burlap to thin and soft dress. In Russia, mainly only coarse flax is grown.
Hemp
Bast fibers of hemp are classified as coarse. The resulting material is called hemp (a coarse rope woven from these fibers has the same name). It should be said that hemp has male and female plants. Hemp is made from men's. And from the women's - mothers - coarse sea ropes. To process such fibers, special milling machines are used. Without them, the fibers do not lend themselves well to at least some kind of weaving. They have low stretch, are very rough to the touch and absorb moisture well.
Jute
The plant is grown mainly in India and Pakistan. The fiber has the same name and belongs to the category of coarse. Its mass fraction from the whole plant is 20-25%. Due to its roughness, it is mainly used for furniture upholstery, packaging, sometimes for carpets.
Kenaf
Plant with lower fiber content (16 to 20%). Ropes, coarse fabrics such as burlap or tarpaulin are made from kenaf fiber. The leader in production is India.
Ropeer
Herbaceous plant with high fiber content. To improve its qualitiesit is boiled in a special solution. Ropes, ropes, etc. are made from it. Twine from the bast fibers of the rope is very elastic and strong.
Rami
Plant with very high quality fiber, which is distinguished by a special brilliance, elasticity, softness. It is rot resistant. High-quality linen fabrics and fishing nets are made from ramie.
In general, the plant belongs to the Nettle family. It grows in a subtropical climate. The leading positions in the production of ramie are occupied by China, Japan, the Philippines.
Coarse fibers
Such bast fibers are obtained mainly from tropical plants. They are so named because of their low moisture permeability, resistance to decay, rigidity, strength and low elongation. Used for making ropes only.
Abaca - textile banana. The fiber of the same name is produced from the leaves of this plant.
Sisal, henequen - fiber from agave leaves. It is less durable than abaca and more brittle than hemp. However, this does not prevent us from making nets, ropes and twine from it. Burlap and wrapping fabric are also made from it. From waste and cleaning - paper, mostly wrapping paper. The length of the technical fiber of this plant reaches 1.5 m.
Wood fibers
They are obtained both from the stems of trees and from their bark. Linden is especially popular. The bast fibers of the linden bark are often called "bast". In Russia, bast shoes were woven from it, and during the war years, this skill was useful to the partisans. Soaked linden fibers - bast. Its application is the most diverse. This is a good stuffing material. Also to this day, whitening brushes are made from it. Or use it as a bath washcloth. Linden fiber is very strong, so fishing nets and ropes are made from it.
In addition, linden fibers are widely used in folk medicine. It is believed that, soaked and mashed to a puree consistency, they promote wound healing and remove toxins from the body. This explains the popularity of lime washcloths.