Journal of Natural Fibers

ISSN: 1544-0478 (Print) 1544-046X (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wjnf20

Mechanical Behavior Under Tension of

Schoenoplectus californicus Fiber

E. Cosme Mejía, David Ojeda & Leonardo Goyos

To cite this article: E. Cosme Mejía, David Ojeda & Leonardo Goyos (2017): Mechanical
Behavior Under Tension of Schoenoplectus californicus Fiber, Journal of Natural Fibers, DOI:
10.1080/15440478.2017.1401506

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/15440478.2017.1401506

Published online: 22 Nov 2017.

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JOURNAL OF NATURAL FIBERS
https://doi.org/10.1080/15440478.2017.1401506

Mechanical Behavior Under Tension of Schoenoplectus californicus

Fiber
a,b
E. Cosme Mejía , David Ojedaa, and Leonardo Goyosb
a
Faculty of Applied Science Engineering, Universidad Técnica del Norte, Ibarra, Ecuador; bMastery of the program
Manufacture and Design Assisted by the Computer, Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE, Sangolqui, Ecuador

ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
In the Andeans, it is common to find homemade containers, chairs, structures Schoenoplectus californicus;
made with Schoenoplectus californicus sub. californicus, commonly known as mechanical properties;
totora. Popularly is known that the homemade products possess resistance and characterization; natural
fiber; tension test, totora.
durability due to the incorporation of this fiber, although nowadays the
mechanic properties of this material are unknown. This research begins with 关键词
the study of the variety of the totora which is present in the Province of Imbabura, 力学性能; 表征; 天然纤维;
Ecuador. Considering the geometrical variation of the stem, it is divided in three 拉伸试验; 拉伸试验; 托托
parts. Based on standard ASTM D4761-02a totora is characterized under tension. 拉
Finally, the mechanic characteristics under tension of Schoenoplectus californicus
are presented from the stress-strain curve and its comparative analysis among
the groups of transversal sections. It is determined that its behavior corresponds
to a fragile material with an average of maximum stress up to 88.501 6.92 MPa,
and an average of a maximum strain of 0.05132 0.00610 mm/mm.

摘要
在安第斯，是很常见的发现自制容器、椅子、和 Schoenoplectus californi-
cus加州潜艇结构，俗称船。众所周知，由于该纤维的力学性能是未知的，
因此，由于这种纤维的加入，自制的产品具有抵抗力和耐久性。本文的研
究始于对船是 Imbabura省目前品种的研究，厄瓜多尔。考虑到杆的几何变
化，它分为三部分。基于ASTM D4761-02A 标准托托拉的特点是在张力
下。最后，Schoenoplectus californicus 张力下的力学特性，从应力-应变曲
线及其比较分析各组之间的横向部分了。0.00610毫米/毫米最大应变的平均
值。±6.92 MPa 的脆性材料，和0.05132±它是确定的，其行为相当于平均应
力最大值达88.501

Introduction
The Schoenoplectus californicus (SchC), commonly known as totora by the settlers of the Andeans
(Heiser 1978), it is an aquatic plant which belongs to the sedges Cyperaceae family. Its stem can
reach up to three meters high, which is very common in South America’s lakes and swamps, the
same as in the south of the United States (Natural Resources Conservation Service, USDA 2003). It
grows well in full sun with or without shadow, being one of the less demanding aquatic plants in its
growth and having high resistance in its environment. 77% of its weight is water, its stem is trigone
with circled borders (see Figure 1) with 3–25 mm of diameter (Lange et al. 1998, Heredia 2014).
The SchC is presented as a vegetable biomass of great production. If it exceeds it can generate
contamination problems and the risk of fire forests in the dry season (Banack et al. 2014). It is
considered like a source of livelihood because they develop handicrafts, they confection by weaving

CONTACT Mejía E. Cosme cdmejia@utn.edu.ec Professor of Mechatronic Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science
Engineering, Universidad Técnica del Norte, Ibarra, Ecuador.
Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/wjnf.
© 2017 Taylor & Francis
2 M. E. COSME ET AL.

Figure 1. Totora’s Fiber in different diameters.

mats, winnowing fans, carpets, and structures such as: chairs, seats, containers and roofs, and rustic
constructions (see Figure 2) (Macia and Baslev 2000, Simbaña 2015, Bautista and Sanchez 2015).
Because of the existence of cells with air compartments in the interior (see Figure 3), previous
studies have shown that is used inside a material composed by an apparent density: 0.078493 g/cm3
and the coefficient of the thermal conductivity: 0.032098209 W/K m2, for this reason the SchC is

Figure 2. a) handmade boats b) totora’s furniture (Totora Sisa 2009).

Figure 3. Transversal section of the SchC observed under a microscope at 100x.

 JOURNAL OF NATURAL FIBERS 3

Figure 4. A compressed block of soil and totora (Velasco et al. 2015).

proposed as a thermal insulation ideal for buildings and floors (Velasco et al. 2014). Its use is
analyzed as a chamber filling, aggregated in blocks, floating floors, and weaved panels for ceilings
(see Figure 4) (Velasco et al. 2015).
The achievement of the development of the insulation products and structures such as chairs
and containers, shows the initial signs of the good mechanic properties of the SchC’s fiber
(Heredia 2014); therefore, it is necessary to determine its resistance to the traction for its future
application as a composed material based on the reinforcement of its fiber.
To determine its resistance to the traction of the SchC’s fiber it is used the standard ASTM
D4761-02a to be able to obtain the stress-strain curve.

Materials and methods

SchC’s fiber
To obtain SchC’s fiber the same procedure was applied done by the artisans from Saint Paul’s lake
Zone. It is based in harvesting the highest stems (3 m high approximately). Then proceeded to dry
under the sun during 15 days alternating its position like a pyramid form or extended on a flat
surface. Once the process has finished by drying it under the environment, it was visually verified
that there is no presence of water in the stems. The low capacity of malleability, in what concerns to
acquire a complex form of the fiber, represents a good drying process. Finally, it proceeds to store
them in equal conditions of packets during 15 days or more.
A random sample is obtained from 10 stems without visual presence of mistreatment from a
stored packet harvested in the shores of the lake. Each stem’s sample is divided in three sections:
the first one located in the upper part with 3–8 mm of diameter, the second one in the middle
part with 9 to 14 mm of diameter, and the third one in the lower end with 15–20 mm of
diameter.
The internal structure of the fiber possesses a great quantity of holes which makes it difficult to
measure the transversal section. The samples are pressured at 310 KPa for 24 hours to eliminate the
holes. The pressured is realized by six “C” pressure screws which pressures two flat woods and in
between are the samples (see Figure 5)
4 M. E. COSME ET AL.

Figure 5. Samples after pressurizing.

Testing machine
The universal testing machine is used from James Heal brand model Titan 5 of 5000 N specifically
for applications of weaved and non-weaved fibers based on the standard ASTM D4761-02a.

Measurement of length and thickness

To measure the length and width of the test pieces a Vernier electronic Mitutoyo calibrator was used
with a precision of 0.1 mm; meanwhile to obtain the thickness of the mashed test pieces a
micrometric Mitutoyo screw was used with a precision of 1 × 10–5 mm.

Methodology
All the stems are cut, using a Vernier and a blade, to fulfill the test pieces up to 150 mm of length;
each one of these that have been obtained from the central part of each diameter groups, permitting
it to obtain an average intake. Then to proceed to label them with the following code: “Kind of
diameter (F/M/G), Test (T) and test pieces No. (1–5) ”.
The transversal section of the test pieces is tabulated using the micrometric screw to obtain the
thickness and the Vernier for the width; keeping in account the form that the totora acquires after
the pressure it does not acquire a total regular profile, in this case the values obtained from the
transversal section will be considered as approximately.
Based on the standard ASTM D4761-02a, the traction test to the test pieces proceeds to be
performed. For this, each specimen is installed in the Titan 5 machine leaving a separation between
the tweezers of 100 mm. A pre-load is conducted of 2 N, to maintain the transversal section constant
and the traction proceeds at 75 mm/min of speed. The test is done to five test pieces from each
group of the diameter eliminating the test pieces that generated extreme values.

Results and discussion

After the pressure process of the samples the transversal section is measured. The average value and typical
deviation of the transversal section is obtained for the three diametric groups of samples (see Table 1).
With the transversal section of each test piece and the data given of the Force-deformation from
the test the stress-strain curves proceed to be determined.
In the thin diametric group the data of the samples FT1 and FT5 are eliminated because it had
extreme values. The average stress-strain curve has been obtained. Young’s module is calculated in
2476.4 MPa. This diametric group has a maximum average stress of 85.068 ± 7.667 MPa with an
average strain of 0.03118 ± 0.00432 mm/mm (see Figure 6).
 JOURNAL OF NATURAL FIBERS 5

Table 1. The average of values of the transversal section of each diameter groups.
Diameter groups Transversal section mm2 Typical deviation
Thin (3–8 mm) 3.661 0.602
Medium (9–14 mm) 10.353 0.900
Thick (15–20 mm) 16.172 1.532

Figure 6. The Graphic of Stress vs strain from the thin diameter group.

The samples MT1 and MT2 of the medium diametric group are eliminated because it has extreme
values. The average stress-strain curve has been obtained. Young’s module is calculated in
2112.5 MPa. This diametric group has a maximum average stress of 98.125 ± 7.506 MPa with an
average strain of 0.05184 ± 0.00775 mm/mm (see Figure 7).
The samples GT1 and GT5 of the thick diametric group are eliminated because it has extreme values.
The average stress-strain curve has been obtained. Young’s module is calculated in 1220.5 MPa. This
diametric group has a maximum average stress of 82.312 ± 5.601 MPa with an average strain of
0.07096 ± 0.00624 mm/mm (see Figure 8).
The average values of the maximum stress and strain are obtained from the three diametric
groups (see Table 2). The average Young’s module is calculated in 1936.4 MPa.

Figure 7. The Graphic of Stress vs strain from the medium diameter group.
6 M. E. COSME ET AL.

Figure 8. The Graphic of Stress vs strain from the thick diameter group.

Table 2. Average of a Maximum stress values and average of a maximum strain of each diameter group.
Diameter groups Average of maximum stress MPa Average of maximum strain mm/mm
Thin (3–8 mm) 85.068 ± 7.667 0.03118 ± 0.00432
Medium (9–14 mm) 98.125 ± 7.506 0.05184 ± 0.00775
Thick (15–20 mm) 82.312 ± 5.601 0.07096 ± 0.00624
AVERAGE 88.501 ± 6.897 0.05132 ± 0.01624

The equation strain = 2.9703e−5⋅ diameter±0.00021242 is obtained with a coefficient R2 = 0.96546

by a lineal regression analysis. It is determined that the strain values are directly proportional with
the increase diametric of the fiber. The medium diametric group has a superior maximum stress
than the other diametric groups (see Figure 9).
Micrographics are done to the transversal section of the three diametric groups. In the thin
diametric group, the internal walls have greater thickness with holes of less diameter (see Figure 10).
The medium diametric group has internal holes with greater diameter comparing with the thin group.
The internal walls are thinner than the thin group, however many membranes exist in the internal holes
(see Figure 11).

Figure 9. Graphic of the Stress vs Strain from the group of the diameter groups.
 JOURNAL OF NATURAL FIBERS 7

Figure 10. The transversal section of the SchC, from the thin diametrical group observed in a microscope at 100×.

Figure 11. The transversal section of the SchC, from the medium diametrical group observed in a microscope at 100×.
8 M. E. COSME ET AL.

Figure 12. The transversal section of the SchC, from the thick diametrical group observed in a microscope at 100×.

The internal walls of the thick diametric group are much thinner than the other two groups. The
internal holes have a greater diameter (see Figure 12).
The presence of the membranes in the internal holes of the medium diametric group reinforce the
fiber structure. Therefore, the maximum stress is higher than the two other groups.
The curves demonstrate that the thickness of the internal walls influence directly in the strain
variation (see Figure 9).

Conclusions
The average of a maximum stress of the SchC is 88.501 ± 6.897 MPa; and an average of maximum
strain is 0.05132 ± 0.001624 mm/mm.

● The average of elasticity module is obtained from the totora based on the stress –strain curve of
1936.2 MPa.
● The strain is directly proportional to the diameter of the fiber under the equation strain = 2.9703e−5⋅
diameter±0.00021242.
● The variation of the internal structure of the fiber provokes that the strain increases in function
of the diameter.
● The presence of membranes in the internal holes of the medium diametric group reinforces the
structure of the fiber permitting it to reach greater values of the maximum stress.
● The pressure process of the fiber permits to determine a better approximation of the value of
the transversal section when eliminating the internal holes.

Future research
It is necessary in the future, to analyze the relationship between humidity and maximum tension to
determine the parameters in which the SchC gives the best characteristics.
 JOURNAL OF NATURAL FIBERS 9

An analysis under tension of the fiber without its internal structure, will allow to observe its
behavior and deduce the mechanical contribution of the internal structure to the fiber.
In addition, it is necessary to analyze the fiber composition regarding to the percentage absorbed
of the iron and oxygen during the fiber growth, to determine the influence of these components in
the properties of the tension of the SchC; because the excess or lack of these can influence in the
internal structure of the fiber and alter the obtained data.

ORCID
E. Cosme Mejía http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6961-2644

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