The main aim of this study is to identify a new sustainable plant-based fiber extracted from the reddish shell bean plant to investigate its usage in polymer matrix composites. Natural reddish shell bean fiber was extracted from vegetable shells with a biological degradation method. To determine the fiber characteristic properties, physical, chemical, and instrumental tests were performed on reddish shell bean fiber. The surface of the sample was determined with a scanning electron microscope, and it shows that the fiber has a rough surface along its length. In addition, an image processing approach was devised and implemented to determine the average fiber diameter of the reddish shell bean fiber. The elemental composition of fiber was obtained as 50.67 wt.% oxygen, 47.89 wt.% carbon, and 1.52 wt.% calcium with an energy disperse X-ray analysis device. In addition, fiber diameter was predicted as 785.87 μm with the image processing technique. The fiber density was measured as 1080 kg/m³. The crystallinity index of reddish shell bean fiber was calculated as 57%, and the fiber stables up to 328.23°C. The ultimate tensile strength of reddish shell bean fiber was obtained as 111 MPa. The elongation at break and estimated values of Young’s modulus of reddish shell bean fiber are 1.83% and 6.11 GPa, respectively. According to the results, reddish shell bean fiber can be utilized as reinforcement in polymer matrix composites.

Recently there has been growing interest in dyeing biomaterials using natural sustainable plant extracts classified as eco-friendly. The microwave-assisted method provides fast heating and energy efficiency, more homogenous heat distribution in dyeing baths, less use of chemicals, and less heat loss, resulting in this method being greener—more sustainable and ecological. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are used to predict the dyeing properties of fibers, which are often complex and dependent on multiple variables. This saves time and reduces costs compared to trial-and-error methods. This study presents the green dyeing of merino wool fiber with natural dye extracted from Aesculus hippocastanum (horse chestnut) shells using the microwave-assisted method. Before dyeing, the merino wool fiber underwent a pre-mordanted process with aluminum potassium sulfate with different concentrations using the microwave-assisted method. Spectrophotometric analysis of the light, washing, and rubbing fastness of the dyed merino wool fibers was performed. The color strength, light, washing, and rubbing fastness of the dyed merino wool fiber were developed using the pre-mordanting process. After the pre-mordanting process, the light fastness of the samples improved from 1–2 to 3, the color change increased from 2 to 3–4, and the rubbing fastness developed from 2–3 to 4 according to mordant concentration, mordanting time, and dyeing time quantities. The spectrophotometric analysis results indicate that color coordinates vary based on mordant concentration, mordanting, and dyeing duration. Furthermore, the results proved that microwave energy significantly shortened the mordanting and dyeing duration, resulting in an eco-friendly dyeing process. In this investigation, a feed-forward neural network (FFNN) model with sigmoid hidden neurons and a linear output neuron was used to predict the color strength dyeing property of merino wool fiber. Experimental results showed that the proposed model achieved a regression value of 0.9 for the color strength dyeing property. As demonstrated, the proposed FFNN model is effective and can be utilized to forecast the color strength dyeing properties of merino wool fiber.

In this study, a novel cellulosic plant-based fiber was extracted from Phytolacca americana (inkberry) as a sustainable substitute natural fiber for synthetic fibers. For this purpose, an extended characterization of inkberry fibers was carried out. The elemental composition was determined as 58.27% carbon and 41.70% oxygen. Moreover, an image processing approach was presented and used for computing the average thickness of cellulosic inkberry stem fiber. Fiber diameter was estimated from the scanning electron microscope micrographs with image processing as 480.56 µm. The scanning electron microscope image indicated that inkberry fiber has a smooth surface with a channel structure. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that the fiber has a 4 nm crystalline size with a 51.4% crystalline index. Fiber functional groups were characterized with Fourier transform infrared analysis. The mechanical behaviors of inkberry fiber were tested with a single fiber tensile test device, and tensile strength was determined as 146.5 MPa, Young’s modulus was found as 24.8 GPa, and elongation at break of fiber was obtained as 2.37%, respectively. Furthermore, the fiber was thermally stabilized up to 435.37 °C with thermogravimetric analysis. These physico-chemical behaviors confirm that inkberry fiber may be recognized as a promising reinforcement fiber in polymer matrix composites for many non-structural applications, which are interior body panels in yachts, automobiles, partition boards in buildings, and barriers. Graphical Abstract

In this work, C.I. Disperse Blue 79 was used to dye 100 % isotactic polypropylene (iPP) fibers, the most widely used fiber in the industry, 100 % linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) polymer fibers and ternary polymer blends obtained from four different proportions of these polymer fibers with an elastomer of ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) in the absence and presence of microwave. The samples were tested for color measurement, color fastness, mechanical and morphological properties. The results of the investigation show that addition of up to 15% EVA in ternary polymer blends results in good color and mechanical properties for both dyeing methods in both the absence and presence of microwave energy. The SEM images indicate there is no porosity on the surfaces of the iPP/LLDPE/EVA ternary polymer blends dyed in the presence of microwave energy. Using microwave energy for dyeing provided a saving of almost 90% of the time normally required and thus a significant amount of energy.

Sentetik boyaların keşfinden sonra, tekstil malzemelerinin boyanmasında doğal boyaların kullanımı büyük ölçüde azalmıştır. Günümüzde sentetik boyaların aşırı kullanımı, üretim ve uygulamalarında çevreye çok miktarda atık ve fikse olmamış boyarmadde vermesine neden olmaktadır. Ayrıca sentetik boyaların ciddi sağlık tehlikeleri ve doğanın eko-dengesini bozması, araştırmacıları günümüzde tekstil malzemelerinin boyanmasında doğal boyaların kullanımına ait çalışmalara yöneltmiştir. Bu çalışmada yapılarında flavonoid ve antrakinon içeren kenger (Gundelia tournefortii) ve soryaz (Ornithogalum arabicum) bitkileri yünün boyanmasında doğal boya kaynağı olarak kullanılmıştır. Boyama işleminden önce yün kumaş numuneleri potasyum alüminyum sülfat, sitrik asit, askorbik asit, kalay klorür ve demir II sülfat olmak üzere beş farklı mordan maddesi ile mordanlanmıştır. Uygulamalardaki beş farklı mordan maddesinin, boyamaların CIELab değerleri, renk kuvvetleri (K/S), sürtme ve yıkama haslık özelliklerine etkileri incelenmiştir. Elde edilen sonuçlara göre mordan cinsi numunelerin renk ve haslık özellikleri üzerinde etkilidir. Ayrıca mordanlama işleminden sonra numunelerin haslık özellikleri iyileşmiştir. Sürdürülebilir ve ekolojik olan kenger ve soryaz bitkilerinden elde edilen doğal boyarmadde tekstil malzemelerinin boyanmasında sentetik boyarmaddelere ikame olarak kullanılabilir.