ABSTRACT
One characteristic of natural fibers that is always given as negative is the wide variation in quality of the fibers. Variation within a single bale has been known to give problems during processing. Because the fiber is natural, this variation is often cited as unavoidable and one that cannot be corrected or measured. While some variation is caused by the variety and growing conditions, the largest factor is how the material is processed to achieve a usable fiber. There are several different processes involved for the different types of natural fibers. Of the natural fibers, flax is considered to be the premiere fiber having the highest quality. The applications for flax extend from luxury apparel to paper, with new applications in composites. Considerable resources have been spent on processing flax. The majority of recent research has been with flax fiber, and this will be the primary subject for this chapter.
