Research for the effect of ecological surface treatments on physical and morphological properties of stinging nettle yarn

Earlier use of the nettle fiber being a bast fiber such as ramie, kenaf and jute dates far back to the old times. While the production of renewable and naturally-origin stinging nettle with little input makes this plant ecologically advantageous, fibers obtained from stinging nettle allow this plant to take the place among the environmentally friendly fibers. In this study, the effect of ecological surface treatments on stinging nettle thread was searched in acidic and basic environment. In this context, surface treatment was performed on Giant Himalayan Nettle thread with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and acetic acid (80%) (CH3COOH) by using conventional, ultrasonic and microwave methods at different concentrations. In addition, the effect of surface treatments, which are performed by measuring stinging nettles' weight loss, tensile strength and elongation ratio, frictional strength, SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope), FTIR (Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy) images and contact angle, on physical and morphological properties was searched. Keywords Nettle, nettle yarn, surface processes