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The enormous number of pineapple plantations in Malaysia are dominated by small to large agronomists governed by the Malaysian Pineapple Industrial Board, which addresses almost all pineapple industry-related issues. In Malaysia, more than 147,000 hectares of land are utilized for pineapple plantations, which create 65 tons of residue per hectare. Consequently, the waste production comes from the long leaves of the harvested mother plants of pineapples that are cut off to allow the young sucker to grow freely, which then can be found abundantly. However, the handling practice for pineapple leaf waste in Malaysia is still poorly managed. Realizing the importance of this issue, as an alternative to reduce waste, fibers from pineapple leaves were extracted and dyed to improve the aesthetic value and marketability of pineapple leaf fiber by adding dyeing substrates using a low energy consumption dyeing approach. Two different techniques of dyeing were used to investigate the morphological, mechanical, color strength, and colorfastness properties of dyed pineapple leaf fibers. The dyeing of pineapple leaf fibers was investigated using C.I. reactive blue 5, C.I reactive red 11, and C.I Reactive yellow 86 at different concentrations. As a result, the characterization of dyed pineapple leaf fiber (PALF) showed that the dyeing process modified the original structure of PALF but no significant differences were observed on dyed PALF in the comparison of each dyeing technique. In addition, under optimized conditions of two dyeing techniques dyed PALF presented lower breaking strength, whereas comparable breaking strength value was gained with each technique. Fibers of both dyeing techniques displayed interesting color findings with excellent colorfastness to washing, lightfastness, and good colorfastness to perspiration. The infrared dyeing method resulted in similar and better dyeing behavior compared to exhaustion dyeing techniques. This method could further be refined by considering the production of textile materials, which can provide alternative to the usage of highly expensive silk fibers in the songket making industry.

The large consumption of sewing threads in the clothing industry indicates the importance for manufacturers to identify the correct supplies of sewing processes to prevent any major seam failures. This paper presents the results of the investigations made using different sizes of 100 % polyester threads on voile, chiffon, and organza fabrics. The samples with lockstitch seam were prepared in three different stitch lengths, which are 7 spi, 10 spi, and 13 spi. The seam slippage test was carried out to obtain the maximum tensile force on the different fabric types. The results revealed that different sizes of polyester threads influenced the maximum tensile force of the fabrics. The mechanical properties of the sewing threads, stitch length, structure, and compactness of the fabrics also affected the result of tensile force. It can be concluded that as the thread size increased, the tensile force also increased. This study suggests that sewing threads with thread size of 33 Tex and stitch length of 13 spi are suitable for chiffon fabric; thread size of 31 Tex is suitable to be used and sewn with 7 spi and 10 spi for voile fabric. Meanwhile, thread size of 31 Tex is suitable to be used with 7 spi on organza fabric.

This study reports on the tensile and tearing strength of natural rubber latex (NRL) high strength coated fabrics. Plain woven Kevlar 29 fabrics were coated with pre-vulcanised NRL using single-dip, double-dip and triple-dip coating methods. The force needed to break and tear the uncoated and NRL coated fabrics were determined using Testometric Tensile Tester and observations were made on their modes of failure. Besides, a Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) also been done in order to observe the bonding between fiber and NRL. Overall, the NRL coated fabrics showed higher tensile and tearing strength in comparison with the uncoated fabrics. The tensile strength for the SD-, DD- and TD-coated fabrics were 12%, 8% and 10% higher than the uncoated fabrics respectively. Similarly, the tearing strength for SD-, DD- and TD-coated fabrics were 9%, 12% and 18% higher than the uncoated fabric. After each coating, the fabric's areal density and thickness increases. The NRL film on the fabric surface restricts yarn freedom of movement under loading. It also assists the yarns to bunch together and resist the propagation of tear or break by sharing the load with a greater number of yarns before the fabric is completely failed. Additionally, it can be said that coating with NRL increase the energy absorption and the elasticity characteristics of the coated fabrics and preventing from severe damage during loading.