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With the increase in demand for wood and wood products, there is need to find alternative sources for the production of pulp and paper. Non wood plants have attracted interest due to their short growth cycles, moderate irrigation and fertilizer requirements and low lignin content. This study aimed at investigating the fibre characteristics of Agave sisalana for pulp and paper production. Leaves were collected from three sisal plant stands in Oyo State, Nigeria. The plant whorl was divided systematically into bottom, middle and top from which five leaves were randomly collected from each whorl position. The fibres of the leaves were extracted from which 2cm of fibres were taken from three positions on the leaf (top, middle and base). Extracted fibres were macerated and 3375 fibres were measured. The result shows that the fibre length of sisal increased with increasing length of the leaves from base to top with a mean value of 1.68mm. The fibre diameter and cell wall thickness averaged 16.98µm and 2.32µm respectively decreasing from the stem base to the top. The slenderness ratio averaged 99.4 while the coefficient of flexibility averaged 72.61. The highest value of the runkel ratio of Agave sisalana was 0.42. The fibres from sisal (Agave sisalana) leaves possess good fibre dimensions and derived values which will make it suitable for the production of high quality paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, a number of handsheets made from unbeaten and unbleached kraft, refiner mechanical and cotton linter pulps and crack propagations on paper samples under monotonic loading, were analyzed and possible links with the properties of fibrous networks were investigated. Crack initiation and propagation on the tested paper strips were also investigated under a scanning electron microscope to determine visually the state of the paper matrix under applied loads. Furthermore, paper samples were subjected to a series of mechanical tests, such as tearing resistance, folding endurance and tensile strength. The primary goal of this study concentrated on determining the fatigue life responses of paper samples under cyclic loading. An empirical equation for the fatigue life responses of paper samples tested was developed. It was found that paper, being a heterogeneous composite material, responds differently to applied loads depending on the properties of its constituent individual fibers and the nature of interfiber bonding in its structure. Kraft handsheets, for instance, showed the highest mechanical properties, followed by samples made from refiner mechanical pulps and cotton linters respectively. Overall, the equation developed proved to be a good way of predicting the fatigue life of paper materials subjected to variable loads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]