Tension Strength and Fiber Morphology of Agave Cantala Roxb Leaves due to Liquid Smoke Immersion Treatment

Abstract

In this work, we investigate the fiber tensile strength of the Agave cantala roxb leaves based on the treatment of immersion in liquid smoke which was obtained from mature coconut shells. Four different time variations of treatments, namely, one hour, two hours, three hours, and four hours, have been carried out. After the immersion, we investigated the chemical contents of the Agave cantala using scanning electron microscope (SEM) which is equipped by energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). Furthermore, the tension strength is tested using tensile strength plus 50 N. The test is applied for a single Agave cantala fiber. The results of the tensile test of single fiber showed an increase in tensile strength when compared with fiber tensile strength without immersion. The tensile strength of a single fiber of Agave cantala leaves increased with increasing duration of immersion time. After reaching a certain strength, however, the strength of the fiber decreases. The tensile strength of a single fiber without immersion is 192.85 MPa and the highest is 670.82 MPa for Agave cantala after immersion for three hours, with an elongation of 0.68 mm. By increasing the tensile strength of Agave cantala through liquid smoke immersion treatment, it can potentially improve its performance as a material composite reinforcement.