Wetting properties of hemp fibres modified by plasma treatment

Abstract

The influence of dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) on the physico-chemical properties of hemp fibres was studied in this paper. Plasma-modification of hemp fibres was performed at atmospheric pressure. The source of the DBD was developed in the Quantum Optics Laboratory of the Faculty of Physics in Belgrade as a device prototype with plane-parallel geometry, for the continuous plasma-modification or treatment of textile materials. The capillary rise method was applied to evaluate the improvement in water uptake of the DBD treated hemp fibres. The plasma-modified hemp fibres have highly improved wetting properties without changing physico-mechanical properties (tensile strength and elongation). © Copyright (c) by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.