PRACTICAL ON TENSILE STRENGTH

Tensile strength is the pulling force/weight/mass the fibre can withstand before breaking/failing.

Extracting fibres from mature nettle plants by water-retting

 Retting is a process of using the action of micro-organisms and moisture on plants to dissolve
much of the cellular tissues to facilitate separation of the fibre from the stem. It is used in the
production of fibre from plant materials. The most widely practiced method of retting is called
water retting, by submerging stems in water.
- Harvest nettle plants and remove the leaves and flowers from stems.
- Place the stems in a bucket of water and they should be completely submerged.
- Leave them for 10 days to allow the microbial activity to digest/separate/remove the soft
tissues of the stem.
- Remove the stems from the water and wash under running tap water to remove the soft
tissue.
- Dry the remaining parts of stems. The outside cuticle and epidermal layer will rub away.
- Fibres peel away and the central pith will be left.
- The fibres are made from vascular tissue that contain xylem vessels and sclerenchyma
fibres.

Practical investigation to compare the tensile strength of sisal and nylon fibres

1. Suspend bundle of fibres of both sisal and nylon of the same diameter and length.
2. Equal masses are added to both nylon and sisal fibres .
3. Stop when one fibre breaks from any of the bundles, and determine the mass that caused the
breaking.
4. Repeat twice to get the mean in order to increase reliability.

Procedure
when dealing with individual strings/fibres
1. Obtain strings from different plants
2. Carefully inspect the strings to ensure there are no breaks or cuts.
3. Each string should have a constant diameter.
4. Cut the strings so that you have 20 cm long strings
5. Clamp the two strings between two retort stands. Ensure they are held securely.
6. Place soft fabric in the tray underneath the string so that masses fall in the tray and not on the
floor or bench when the string breaks.
7. Add masses 10g at a time until the string breaks.
8. Record the mass.
 9. Repeat 2 more times.

Learning tip
1. These fibres are non-living, so they are not easily digested by bacteria in the retting process and
are therefore left behind. The retting process is used with different plants when they are processed
to produce fibres.
Safety precautions in this investigation

- Soft fabric is placed beneath the weights so that they do not roll to the feet.
- Wear goggles in case of snapping of fibres.

To increase the accuracy of results

Small masses are added e.g. 10 grams rather than larger masses e.g. 50 grams. This is to
increase the accuracy of results so that break mass would be nearest 10g rather than 50g.

Factors that need to be kept constant

1. Length of fibre: using ruler

2. Diameter of fibre using micrometer screw gauge
3. Same source of fibre
4. Age of fibre
5. Mass of fibre
6. Water/moisture content of fibre: can be controlled by heating all fibres in an incubator at 80 0C till
the mass becomes constant.
7. Temperature: the experiment must be carried out in a temperature controlled environment. This is
because temperature of fibres can influence breaking force. For example, nylon fibres may soften
at high temperatures and breaking force may decrease. Generally, fibres are strong at lower
temperature and weak at high temperature.
 8. Same humidity.
9. Stored for the same length of time.
10. Same way of applying the masses.

Independent and dependent variables

1. Independent variable – types of fibre.

2. Dependent variable – tensile strength.

Suggest how a valid investigation could be carried out to produce reliable data to compare the
tensile strength of white fibres and brown fibres. nyoka(4)
 Fibres of the same length and same diameter are used.
 Temperature and humidity are controlled
 Add masses until fibre breaks.
 Measure the mass that breaks the fibre
 repeat and find the mean / average
 In case of anomalous result / outlier, it is removed or a repeat of
investigation is done

To calculate tensile strength

 Tensile strength is calculated: conversion of breaking mass(kg) to
breaking force(N) and divide by the cross sectional area

Breaking Mass (kg) is converted into breaking force (N)

Breaking force=mass x g (gravitational force, 9.81)

breaking force / N
Tensile strength(N m−2 )= 2
cross section area/ m

Cross-sectional area. The diameter of the fibre is measured with micrometer screw gauge (measures up to precision of
0.001cm) and not Vernier Calipers (precision is up to 0.01cm). The radius (r) is d/2, where d is the diameter of the
fibre. Cross-sectional area = πr2