Exploring Material Potentials of Abaca (Musa textilis)
Abaca is a native plant species in the Philippines.
It is traditionally and currently used for textiles, cordage, pulp and woven products.
Abaca is recognised for its unique material properties such as saltwater resistance and performance in the ocean.
It was widely used as a marine rope prior to the rise of synthetic polymer ropes.
Given abaca’s inherent properties..
Could its applications be expanded to a range of products used in marine environments?
Could it be a material that has a balance between technical performance and ecological safety?
Rationale for Materials Research
Archipelagos such as the Philippines are faced with material and waste challenges which negatively affect species, ecosystems and communities
There is growing research and awareness about the impacts and risks that materials such as petroleum-based plastics and synthetic chemicals have on marine ecosystems.
Materials commonly used and developed prioritise technical performance even if the material poses significant health and safety risks throughout its life cycle
Even with alternative materials that are being developed, there is a lack of transparency of how these “better” materials are safer than problematic ones.
The Philippines is rich with biodiversity and materials that can be explored to replace problematic materials
There are opportunities to leverage what is locally available and use a range of techniques to expand the ways in which traditional materials are used.
Multi-Perspective Materials Design for Abaca
This research was started as part of Roleen Gail Sevillena’s master’s thesis. She proposes an alternative approach to materials research and development: Multi-Perspective Materials Design (MPMD). Below is the ongoing process of putting MPMD into practice.
Who should be considered and engaged?
An ongoing documentation of relevant stakeholders for the materials design context (coastal areas of the Philippines). They are grouped in the following categories:
- abaca growers and processors
- people who work with abaca for traditional applications
- people who work with abaca for modern applications
- users of products made with abaca
- community members exposed to abaca where it is grown, processed, used or disposed of
- biotic (living) beings in marine ecosystems:
– vertebrate animals (e.g. fish, rays, whales)
– invertebrate animals (e.g. sea stars, oysters, crabs, shrimp, sea slugs, jellyfish)
– plants (e.g. seagrass)
– protists (e.g. seaweed)
– bacteria
– fungi - abiotic (non-living) beings in marine ecosystems:
– saline water
– substrate (e.g. sand, rock, mud) - the material itself (abaca)
- marine scientists and researchers
- toxicologists
- chemists (green chemistry)
- coastal community members of a specific place
- people who conduct material testing in institutions:
– Philippine Textile Research Institute
– University of the Philippines – Diliman Materials Science and Engineering Department
- abaca fibre sellers and exporters
- abaca product manufacturers (pulp, pulp products, cordage)
- Department of Agriculture (DA)
- Department of Science and Technology (DOST)
- Philippine Textile Research Institute (part of DOST)
- Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)
- Design Center of the Philippines (part of DTI)
- HABI: The Philippine Textile Council
- Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) – specifically related to solid waste management and EPR Act of 2022
How is abaca grown and initially processed?
In addition to reading literature, I visited Capalonga, Camarines Norte to learn about the growing, harvesting, tuxying, stripping, drying and grading of abaca fibres.
In the Philippines, abaca grows well in areas where there is distributed rainfall throughout the year, on hilly or mountainous areas (not more than 500 metres above sea level). The ideal soils are clay loam and sandy clay loam with good drainage. Abaca is grown in agroforestry models where there is intercropping and the appropriate amount of shade trees. However, there are also abaca plantations that exist in the country.
The layers of the leaf sheath are then separated. A tuxying knife is inserted between layers to loosen them and then each leaf sheath pulled off. The thin layers of the leaf sheath are pulled one by one and separated (outer layer, next to outer layer, middle layer, inner layer).
After stripping, the fibres need to be dried immediately. Drying methods include sun-drying, air-drying or mechanical-drying. The fibres must be thoroughly dried before storing them to ensure that mold or bacteria do not affect fibre quality. Once dried, the fibres are bundled.
Abaca fibres are graded based on their quality of stripping, strand thickness, texture, leaf sheath layer and colour. The grade of the abaca fibres is a determining factor of the fibre price.
What are the various forms that abaca can be as a material?
An ongoing documentation of my material experiments and characterisations.
- Long fibres, medium pressure, flat
- Long fibres, low pressure, spherical
- Long fibres, no pressure, spherical
More info to come…
- Manually beaten pulp, spheres
- Manually beaten pulp, flat
- Pulp fibre leftover, block
More info to come…
- Lignin
- Degummed compounds
More info to come…
- Ground fibres, with gum arabic
- Loose woven, coated with shellac
- Tightly woven, coated with gum elemi
More info to come…
Which material tests need to be conducted?
Testing should be conducted in stages and risk is assessed at each stage: (1) lab simulations of marine ecosystems, (2) lab simulations of material being used for potential application in marine environment, (3) in the ocean at a controlled site, and (4) in the ocean being used.
The purpose of testing is to understand the material’s life cycle and how the material can be experienced from different perspectives:
user testing on multiple experience levels:
- functional
- sensorial
- interpretive
- affective
- performative
- toxicity
identify indicator species in the specific ecosystem for testing physical and chemical experiences (short & long term):
- close contact
- ingestion
- toxicity
- chemical composition of material
- degradability in seawater
- bioaccumulative potential
- toxicity
- seawater quality (short & long material exposure)
- absorbency
- water resistance
- water repellency
- tensile strength
- compression
- abrasion resistance