Thermogravimetric Analysis of the Flax Bast Fibre Bundle

Abstract

Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) makes it possible to obtain information on change in physicochemical properties of bio-polymeric components of flax fibres when determining their quantitative content by burning microsamples in the range of 25-500°C. The results obtained have shown an individual pattern of TGA and differential scanning calorimetrycurves in samples with a different quality of flax fibre. Degradation rate maxima for flax fibre biopolymers were observed over a temperature range of 185-455°C that allowed estimation of the content of water, cellulose, lignin and ash. TGA was shown to serve asasensitive method for estimating flax fibre composition.