• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2022.10a
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• pp.32-32
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• 2022

Abaca (Musa textilis L. Nee) is a native Musa species from the Philippines known for its natural fiber. Abaca fiber a.k.a. Manila hemp extracted from its pseudostems is considered one of the strongest fibers in the world. This is used for commodities such as ropes, papers, and money bills. Abaca is vulnerable to pests and diseases such as the Abaca Bunchy Top Disease (ABTD) caused by Abaca Bunchy Top Virus (ABTV) and Banana Bunchy Top Virus (BBTV). Inosa, one of the varieties of abaca utilized in the Philippines, is highly susceptible to ABTD. In contrast, Pacol (Musa balbisiana L.), a close relative of abaca, is highly resistant to the same disease. Here, we report the sequencing and de novo genome assembly of both abaca var. Inosa and banana var. Pacol. A total of ~16 Gb and ~21 Gb raw reads for Inosa and Pacol, respectively, were generated using Pacbio Hifi sequencing method and assembled with Hifiasm. High-quality de novo assemblies of both Musa species with 99% recovered as per BUSCO analysis were obtained. The assembled Inosa genome has a total length of ~654 Mb and N50 of 7 Mb while Pacol has a total length of 527 Mb and N50 of 3 Mb which are close to their estimated genome size of ~638 Mb and ~503 Mb, respectively. The information that can be derived from the de novo assembled genomes would provide a solid foundation for further research in disease resistance and fiber quality improvement in abaca.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.57-63
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• 2023

In this study, an organic-inorganic hybrid composite of Abaca nanocellulose and titanium dioxide was prepared. Abaca nanocellulose was prepared by oxidizing Abaca cellulose using TEMPO (2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-piperidine-1-oxyl) as a catalyst. Titanium dioxide nanoparticles were prepared by the sol-gel method, and a composite was prepared by hybridizing them with nanocellulose. As a result of comparing the properties of the composite and its physical properties according to the change in manufacturing pH, the effect of pH was very large when combining nanocellulose and titanium dioxide, and the optimal bonding performance was shown at pH 8 in this experimental condition. In addition, the prepared composite showed photocatalytic properties, and the higher the content of titanium dioxide, the higher the hydrophilicity of the composite according to UV light irradiation.

• Composites Research
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.165-169
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• 2013

This work presents the tensile properties and water uptake behavior of plasma treated abaca fibers reinforced epoxy composites. The composites were prepared by vacuum assisted resin transfer molding. The effects of treatment on tensile properties and sorption characteristics of abaca fiber composites in distilled water and salt solution at room temperature were investigated. The tensile strength of the composites increased with plasma treatment. With plasma treatment, an improvement of 92.9% was obtained in 2.5 min exposure time in plasma. This is attributed to high fiber-matrix compatibility. Less improvement on tensile properties of hybrid treatment of sodium hydroxide and plasma was obtained. However, both treatments reduced overall water uptake in distilled water and salt solution. Hydrophilicity of the fibers decreased upon plasma and sodium hydroxide treatment, which decreases water uptake.

• Composites Research
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.198-204
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• 2012

The objective of this study is to improve the mechanical properties in abaca fabric/epoxy composites produced using a VARTM process. The mechanical properties were improved by increasing the surface roughness of the fabric through plasma polymerization and improving the interfacial adhesion between the epoxy and the fabric through changing its hydrophilic properties to the hydrophobic properties. Plasma polymerization at atmospheric pressure and room temperature was used, and the optimal polymerization time to improve the mechanical properties was investigated. NaOH treatment on the fabric was also carried out for the comparison. The composite fabricated using the fabric polymerized for 10 seconds shows the highest tensile strength compared to that of none-polymerized or NaOH treated. Plasma polymerization for more than 20 seconds exhibits decrease in the tensile strength. As a result, the plasma polymerization for more than 20 seconds may have caused some damages on the surface of the fabrics. Also, the hydrophilic abaca represents a tendency of presenting the hydrophobic properties in absorption and sedimentation tests.

• Composites Research
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.59-64
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• 2017

Eco-convivial composites with improved properties are essential to present polymer scenario and can be made easily by replacing partially/completely renewable materials either matrix or reinforcement along with few % of additives. In these investigations, Abaca fabric have been used as reinforcement for manufacturing of Vinyl ester composites through VARTM technique and study the effect of alkali surface treatment of abaca fabric and flame retardant additives i.e., ammonium polyphosphate (APP) with halloysite nano-clay (HNT) on mechanical and flame retardant properties. The results concluded that, surface treatment deceased the hydrophilic nature of fabric and enhanced the interfacial bonding with hydrophobic matrix and eventually increased mechanical properties slightly of developed composites. Similarly, the flame retardancy of the composites improved significantly and increases the burning time by varying the wt% of filler concentration.

• Proceedings of the Korea Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry Conference
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• 2006.06b
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• pp.231-237
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• 2006

Grease barrier food containers are commonly used for packaging of fast food, cooked food, and food in general. Greaseproofing is also used for certificate paper and label paper etc. Different pulp raw materials, due to their different fiber morphology and chemical compositions, produce papers of varying characteristics. We used optical photomicroscopy and fiber analysis data to evaluate fiber morphology and traits under various beating conditions in order to understand which pulp raw materials produced superior greaseproofing property when a fluorinated greaseproofing agent was added internally. The experiment studied 9 species of pulps, including 2 softwood (northern pine and radiata pine) bleached kraft pulps which were beaten to 550 and 350 mL CSF, respectively; 3 hardwoods (eucalypts, acacia, mixed Indonesian hardwoods) bleached kraft pulps which were beaten to 450 and 250 mL CSF, respectively; and nonwood fibers of reed, bagasse, and abaca. A fluorinated greaseproofing chemical at 0.12% dosage with respect to dry pulp was added to each pulp preparation and formed handsheets. A total of 67 sets of handsheets were prepared, and their basis weights, thickness, bulks, opacities, wet opacities, air resistance, water absorption and degrees of greaseproofing were measured for an overall evaluation of pulp and freeness on greaseproofing papers. The experimental fiber length, coarseness and distribution characteristics and the greaseproofing results suggest that softwood pulps (radiate pine > northern pine) were superior to hardwood pulps (eucalypts > acacia > mixed Indonesian hardwoods). The unbeaten pulps gave papers with high porosities and nearly devoid of greaseproofing property. Greaseproofing is proportional to air resistance. Among the nonwood fibers, bagasse had the best greaseproofing property, followed by reed and abaca was the poorest. With regards to waterproofing property, hardwood pulps (mixed Indonesian hardwoods > acacia > eucalypts) were better than softwood pulps (northern pine > radiate pine). Among the Nonwood fibers, reed had the highest waterproofing property, and it was followed by abaca, while bagasse had the poorest waterproofing characteristic. In summary, bleached kraft northern pine, eucalypts and reed pulps were best suited for making greaseproofing papers, Freeness of the pulps should be kept at $200{\sim}280mL$ CSF for optimal performance.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.127-140
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• 2024

Upon direct/indirect exposure to flame or heat, composite structures may burn or thermally buckle. This issue becomes more important in the natural fiber-based composite structures with higher flammability and lower mechanical properties. The main goal of the present study was to obtain an optimal eco-friendly composite system with low flammability and high thermal buckling resistance. The studied composite consisted of polypropylene (PP) and short abaca fiber (AF) with eggshell powder (ESP) and halloysite clay nanotubes (HNTs) additives. An optimal base composite, consisting of 30 wt.% AF and 70 wt.% PP, abbreviated as OAP, was initially introduced based on burning rate (BR) and the Young's modulus determined by horizontal burning test (HBT) and tensile test, respectively. The effects of adding ESP to the base composite were then investigated with the same experimental tests. The results indicated that though the BR significantly decreased with the increase of ESP content up to 6 wt.%, it had a very destructive influence on the stiffness of the composite. To compensate for the damaging effect of ESP, small amount of HNT was used. The performance of OAP composite with 6 wt.% ESP and 3 wt.% HNT (OAPEH) was explored by conducting HBT, cone calorimeter test (CCT) and tensile test. The experimental results indicated a 9~23 % reduction in almost all flammability parameters such as heat release rate (HRR), total heat released (THR), maximum average rate of heat emission (MARHE), total smoke released (TSR), total smoke production (TSP), and mass loss (ML) during combustion. Furthermore, the combination of 6 wt.% ESP and 3 wt.% HNT reduced the stiffness of OAP to an insignificant amount by maximum 3%. Moreover, the char residue analysis revealed the distinct differences in the formation of char between AF/PP and AF/PP/ESP/HNT composites. Afterward, dilatometry test was carried out to examine the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of OAP and OAPEH samples. The obtained results showed that the CTE of OAPEH composite was about 18% less than that of OAP. Finally, a theoretical model was used based on first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) to predict the critical bucking temperatures of the OAP and OAPEH composite plates. It was shown that in the absence of mechanical load, the critical buckling temperatures of OAPEH composite plates were higher than those of OAP composites, such that the difference between the buckling temperatures increased with the increase of thickness. On the contrary, the positive effect of CTE reduction on the buckling temperature decreased by raising the axial compressive mechanical load on the composite plates which can be assigned to the reduction of stiffness after the incorporation of ESP. The results of present study generally stated that a suitable combination of AF, PP, ESP, and HNT can result in a relatively optimal and environmentally friendly composite with proper flame and thermal buckling resistance with no significant decline in the stiffness.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.315-328
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• 2023

The main goal of the present study was to assess the effects of eggshell powder (ESP) and halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) on the mechanical properties of abaca fiber (AF)-reinforced natural composites. For this purpose, a limited number of indentation tests were first performed on the AF/polypropylene (PP) composites for different HNT and ESP loadings (0 wt.% ~ 6 wt.%), load amplitudes (150, 200, and 250 N), and two types of indenters (Vickers or conical). The Young's modulus, hardness and plasticity index of each specimen were calculated using the indentation test results and Oliver-Pharr method. The accuracy of the experimental results was confirmed by comparing the values of the Young's modulus obtained from the indentation test with the results of the conventional tensile test. Then, a feed-forward shallow artificial neural network (ANN) with high efficiency was trained based on the obtained experimental data. The trained ANN could properly predict the variations of the mentioned mechanical properties of AF/PP composites incorporated with different HNT and ESP loadings. Furthermore, the trained ANN demonstrated that HNTs increase the elastic modulus and hardness of the composite, while the incorporation of ESP reduces these properties. For instance, the Young's modulus of composites incorporated with 3 wt.% of ESP decreased by 30.7% compared with the pure composite, while increasing the weight fraction of ESP up to 6% decreased the Young's modulus by 34.8%. Moreover, the trained ANN indicated that HNTs have a more significant effect on reducing the plasticity index than ESP.