Comparison of traditional field retting and Phlebia radiata Cel 26 retting of hemp fibres for fibre-reinforced composites

AMB Express

Table 4 Mechanical properties of hemp fibres after different treatments

Treatment	Period	Stiffness (GPa)	UTS (MPa)	Strain (%)
Untreated	0	29 (3)^cd	772 (104)^ab	5.0 (0.9)^a
HTT^A	30 min	31 (6)^cd	688 (120)^bc	2.9 (0.7)^de
HTT	60 min	32 (5)^bc	785 (180)^ab	2.8 (0.7)^de
Field retting	7 days	33 (5)^bc	832 (198)^a	4.7 (1.8)^a
	14 days	31 (5)^cd	697 (104)^bc	4.5 (1.5)^ab
	20 days	28 (5)^cd	683 (107)^bc	4.5 (1.2)^ab
Fungal retting	7 days	27 (5)^d	707 (130)^a	3.6 (0.9)^bcd
	14 days	42 (5)^a	720 (150)^abc	2.3 (0.5)^e
	20 days	31 (7)^cd	714 (145)^bc	3.1 (0.8)^cde
Pectinase^A	90 min	18 (4)^e	636 (61)^c	3.8 (0.9)^bc
HTT + pectinase^A	90 min	36 (5)^b	777 (117)^ab	2.6 (0.9)^e

Values are shown as mean (standard error). In each column, values that do not share a letter are significantly different at the 5% level
^AWith or without autoclave treatment (HTT) at 1 bar (121 °C) for 30 min before the pectinase treatment (Liu et al. 2016b)