On the origin of bast fiber dislocations in flax

Abstract

Bast fibers of many fiber crops are valuable raw material for diverse applications. The isolated from flax stem technical fibers demonstrate numerous defects that are considered to accumulate both during plant growth and various steps of crop processing. We have performed quantitative estimation of dislocations in flax bast fibers within stems of developing plants and at different stages of stem processing, including drying in sheaves, dew retting, scutching and hackling. Scanning electron microscopy revealed no dislocations in fibers within the stem. Numerous defects appeared after scutching in ex-planta fibers and increased in frequency during subsequent technological step. We propose the disturbance of flax stem integrity and the mechanical treatments acting directly on fibers to serve the main factors of fiber deformation emergence.