Orlando’s Arnold Palmer Hospital Layout Strategy-1.pptx
FLAX.pptx
1.
2.
3. It grows best in rich , well-ploughed soil and a cool
damp climate . Level land and ample rainfall is
essential.
The Flax seeds are sown by hand in April or May.
When plants are a few inches high , the weeds must
be pulled by hand with extreme care . The plant
grows up to 170 cm in height and 1.5 cm in
diameter with tapering leaves & small blue or white
flowers . The growing period is about three months.
4. HARVESTING
The plant is matured by changing into color from green to yellow .
This is an indication that it is ready for harvesting
Harvesting will be better when the seed pods have
ripened.
The plants are pulled out of the ground by hand or
machine . The flax plant must be pulled up rather than
cut because the fibre extends to the roots. After
harvesting it is usually dried in the field, seeds are
removed by passing the stalk through coarse combs,
known as combing or rippling, and is then ready for
retting.
5. Flax fibre bundles are surrounded by gummy materials.
So retting is carried out to rot away the woody core and
to dissolve the gums so the fibres can be loosened and
pulled away .
THE RETTING CAN BE OF FOUR TYPES
1. DEW
2. STAGNANT WATER
3. RUNNING WATER
CHEMICAL RETTING
6. In some areas chemical retting is done in natural outdoor
like pool, ponds, lakes and rivers.
In other area ,it is done in man made tanks where water is
heated to 80-90*C. The water should be clean, soft and
free from impurities like iron which would discolor the
fibre .
PROCESS DURATION
Dew retting 10-20 days
Stagnant water retting 30-40 days
Running water retting 20-30 days
Chemical retting 4-8 Hrs.
7. Extraction
After retting the bundles of stalks must be
dried & stored for approximately one
month .This process cure the material and
makes the fibre stronger so that woody
material can be easily removed . The woody
particles can be removed by different
processes like scutching and hackling.
8. FIBRE MORPHOLOGY
The macro-structure of flax :- The flax fibre is a thick , regular
fibre with a subdue lustre.
LENGTH :- Flax is a long fibre .Length ranges from about 10cm to
100cm averaging about 50cm
DIAMETER :- 40-80 microns (no. of cells)
L/D :- for the longest – 15000:1
short - 1500:1, or less
DENSITY :- 1.5 gm/cc
COLOUR :- Yellowish to grey depending on agriculture &
climatic conditions & quality of retting
LUSTRE :- subdued lustre due to its long regular fibre surface
which is coated with a film of wax .This enables a significant
amount of the incident light to be reflected, resulting in the
subdue lustre
