Kapok, or Kapok fibre, also known as ceiba and Java cotton, is the fine fibres from the fruit of the kapok tree Ceiba pentandra in the bombax family Bombacaceae. [1]
Kapok, or Kapok fibre, also known as ceiba and Java cotton, is the fine fibres from the fruit of the kapok tree Ceiba pentandra in the bombax family Bombacaceae. [1]
Kapok is a fibrous material classified along with cotton, as plant hairs or seed fibres, unicellular fibres that develop on the inside of the fruit bags.
The kapok fibres are 10 to 35 mm (3⁄8 to 1+3⁄8 in) in length and are brittle due to lignification, and only spinnable when blended with other fibres, usually cotton. The fibres are water-repellent (hydrophobic) and have good thermal insulation properties. Colour may be white, pale gray, or yellowish to brown. [1] The fibres are easily biodegradable, [2] but not subject to much insect infestation.
The microscopic structure of kapok is significantly different from cotton. It has a hollow tube structure consisting of about 35% cellulose and nanocellulose, 22% xylan and 21.5% lignin in the dry fibre. Also pectin and wax. The fibre is hydrophobic due to a fairly high fat content and is not wetted by water, but is absorptive of oil at a level of 40 g/g or 40 oz/oz of fibre from an oil suspension in water. [3] A kapok fibre is a thin-walled hollow tube with a diameter of about 15 to 35 μm (0.59 to 1.38 mils) and wall thickness about 1 to 2 μm (0.039 to 0.079 mils), filled with up to 80% air by volume, giving it a density of about 1⁄8 that of cotton fibre. [2]
The fibres are not known to cause allergic reactions and are comfortable to wear. [4]
Kapok is grown and exported from Nigeria, Mozambique, and Tanzania in Africa, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines in Asia, and Ecuador in South America. [1]
The product is transported in bales of about 100 kg (220 lb), but at low compression to prevent excessive compaction. Kapok can spontaneously combust, and is rated as a flammable solid. [1]
Kapok is considered relatively inexpensive.[ by whom? ]
Kapok fibers can be used as fill for pillows, quilts and other bedding, upholstery, and soft toys. It is also good thermal and acoustic insulation. [3] [1] [5]
Kapok was used as a filling for life jackets because of its low density, due to the air-filled lumen and low wetting. After extended immersion in water, the buoyancy is only slightly reduced. [1]
By-products such as shoots, oil, leaves and fruit are used as food, for medicinal preparations, particularly in traditional medicine, and as animal feed. [2]
Ceiba pentandra is a tropical tree of the order Malvales and the family Malvaceae, native to Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, northern South America, and West Africa. A somewhat smaller variety has been introduced to South and Southeast Asia, where it is cultivated.
Ceiba is a genus of trees in the family Malvaceae, native to tropical and subtropical areas of the Americas and tropical West Africa. Some species can grow to 70 m (230 ft) tall or more, with a straight, largely branchless trunk that culminates in a huge, spreading canopy, and buttress roots that can be taller than a grown person. The best-known, and most widely cultivated, species is Kapok, Ceiba pentandra, one of several trees known as kapok. Ceiba is a word from the Taíno language meaning "boat" because Taínos use the wood to build their dugout canoes.
Fiber or fibre is a natural or artificial substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. The strongest engineering materials often incorporate fibers, for example carbon fiber and ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene.
Mineral wool is any fibrous material formed by spinning or drawing molten mineral or rock materials such as slag and ceramics.
Coir, also called coconut fibre, is a natural fibre extracted from the outer husk of coconut, and used in products such as floor mats, doormats, brushes, and mattresses. Coir is the fibrous material found between the hard, internal shell and the outer coat of a coconut. Other uses of brown coir are in upholstery padding, sacking and horticulture. White coir, harvested from unripe coconuts, is used for making finer brushes, string, rope and fishing nets. It has the advantage of not sinking, so can be used in long lengths in deep water without the added weight dragging down boats and buoys.
Bombacaceae were long recognised as a family of flowering plants or Angiospermae. The family name was based on the type genus Bombax. As is true for many botanical names, circumscription and status of the taxon has varied with taxonomic point of view, and currently the preference is to transfer most of the erstwhile family Bombacaceae to the subfamily Bombacoideae within the family Malvaceae in the order Malvales. The rest of the family were transferred to other taxa, notably the new family Durionaceae. Irrespective of current taxonomic status, many of the species originally included in the Bombacaceae are of considerable ecological, historical, horticultural, and economic importance, such as balsa, kapok, baobab and durian.
Microfibre is synthetic fibre finer than one denier or decitex/thread, having a diameter of less than ten micrometers.
Bombax is a genus of mainly tropical trees in the mallow family. They are native to western Africa, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and the subtropical regions of East Asia and northern Australia. It is distinguished from the genus Ceiba, which has whiter flowers.
The mongoose lemur is a small primate in the family Lemuridae, native to Madagascar and introduced to the Comoros Islands. These arboreal animals have pointed faces, long, bushy tails, dark-brown upper parts, pale bellies, and beards, which are reddish in males and white in females. They live in family groups and feed primarily on fruit, but also eat leaves, flowers, and nectar, with nectar from Ceiba pentandra trees making up a large part of their diet during the dry season. They have declined sharply in numbers because of habitat destruction and hunting, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated their conservation status as "critically endangered".
SATRA Technology Centre (SATRA) is a research and technology centre, employing over 180 scientific, technical and support staff across three sites one in each the UK, Ireland and China. Founded as the British Boot, Shoe and Allied Trades Research Association in 1919, it has since extended its expertise to cover other consumer product industry sectors including furniture, safety products, clothing, floorcoverings, leathergoods, homeware, and cleaning technology. It is partly funded through membership, which includes 1,600 companies in over 70 countries.
Ceiba speciosa, the floss silk tree, is a species of deciduous tree that is native to the tropical and subtropical forests of South America. It has several local common names, such as palo borracho, or árbol del puente, samu'ũ, or paineira. In Bolivia, it is called toborochi, meaning "tree of refuge" or "sheltering tree". In the USA it often is called the silk floss tree. It belongs to the same family as the baobab; the species Bombax ceiba; and other kapok trees. Another tree of the same genus, Ceiba chodatii, is often referred to by the same common names.
Natural fibers or natural fibres are fibers that are produced by geological processes, or from the bodies of plants or animals. They can be used as a component of composite materials, where the orientation of fibers impacts the properties. Natural fibers can also be matted into sheets to make paper or felt.
Nonwoven fabric or non-woven fabric is a fabric-like material made from staple fibre (short) and long fibres, bonded together by chemical, mechanical, heat or solvent treatment. The term is used in the textile manufacturing industry to denote fabrics, such as felt, which are neither woven nor knitted. Some non-woven materials lack sufficient strength unless densified or reinforced by a backing. In recent years, non-wovens have become an alternative to polyurethane foam.
Bombax ceiba, like other trees of the genus Bombax, is commonly known as cotton tree. More specifically, it is sometimes known as Malabar silk-cotton tree; red silk-cotton; red cotton tree; or ambiguously as silk-cotton or kapok, both of which may also refer to Ceiba pentandra.
Building insulation materials are the building materials that form the thermal envelope of a building or otherwise reduce heat transfer.
Bombax buonopozense, commonly known as the Gold Coast bombax or red-flowered silk cotton tree, is a tree in the mallow family. It is also known in the Dagbani language as Vabga.
Cellulose fibers are fibers made with ethers or esters of cellulose, which can be obtained from the bark, wood or leaves of plants, or from other plant-based material. In addition to cellulose, the fibers may also contain hemicellulose and lignin, with different percentages of these components altering the mechanical properties of the fibers.
Parque de la Ceiba is a passive park in sector Cuatro Calles of barrio San Antón, Ponce, Puerto Rico. Its centerpiece is the historic Ceiba pentandra, a tree associated with the founding of the city. Now surrounded by the park with the same name, the emblematic 500-year-old Ceiba tree stands on the edge of the Ponce Historic Zone. The park opened in 1984, under the administration of Mayor Jose Dapena Thompson. A sign on the fence that surrounds the tree identifies its species as Ceiba pentandra.
Kapok fibre is a cotton-like plant fibre obtained from the seed pods of a number of trees in the Malvaceae family, which is used for stuffing mattresses and pillows, for padding and cushioning, and as insulation.
Dysdercus cingulatus is a species of true bug in the family Pyrrhocoridae, commonly known as the red cotton stainer. It is a serious pest of cotton crops, the adults and older nymphs feeding on the emerging bolls and the cotton seeds as they mature, transmitting cotton-staining fungi as they do so.