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New applications of kenaf fiber have been developed not only in the pulp and paper industry, but also in other industries such as fiber board and nonwoven products. Kenaf fiber composites are increasingly used for making automotive interior trim parts because of their excellent strength and renewability. An application example is use of kenaf fiber in replacing glass fiber for making automotive headliner. Preparation of the fiber before it is used for composite reinforcement is important. With bast fibers, such as hemp, flax and kenaf, the fiber needs to be removed from the plant core (decortication) and extracted from the natural plant polymer (retting) before it can be used for composite manufacture. Pretreatments with some chemicals will increase the penetration and bonding efficiencies of the polymer matrix.

                Kenaf bast fiber from 58 varieties grown in Zhejiang province, China was treated using three treatments. First treatment used ammonium oxalate, sodium hydroxide and acidic chlorite (AT3), second treatment used ammonium oxalate and sodium hydroxide (AT0) and the third one was retting treatment. Some parameters such as diameter, height and weight of stalk, and also fiber strength were measured for screening method.

Treatment AT3 show  much better strength than the other two. It means the single fiber which belongs to AT3 is stronger than the bundle fiber of AT0 and retting treatments. Moreover the chemical treatment of AT0 has much stronger bundle fiber than retting one. The best-8 varieties (kenaf sample number 8, 11, 12, 30, 32, 48, 52 and 58) were selected based on the fiber strength. From the best-8 varieties, kenaf sample number 12 and 32 reached the superior two if evaluated with other factors.

(Annual Meeting of Japan Wood Research Society at Kyoto-Japan, March 2005)