Plantain Fiber Braiding Hair
Budget: $30 – $250 USD
I am converting raw plantain fiber into a soft, flexible and durable braiding hair specifically for Black women, and I need a chemist or materials scientist to develop the process of converting, treating, conditioning and the final-stage testing of the fiber. The fiber is already extracted; your brief starts at the point where it needs to be transformed into smooth, touch-friendly filaments that can be braided, heat-styled and worn for weeks without shedding or breakage.
The process must rely on non-chemical routes. I am open to thermal or mechanical methods—steam conditioning, controlled heat-setting, micro-fibrillation, calendaring, stretching, twisting, anything that avoids added reagents yet still delivers the hand feel of premium kanekalon.
You will design and document the full protocol, run lab-scale trials, and validate the results with tensile, flexibility and abrasion testing. A short comparative assessment against common synthetic braiding fibers will round out the work, highlighting strengths, wear comfort and moisture behavior.
Deliverables
• Step-by-step treatment and conditioning procedure (lab scale, with notes on scale-up cues)
• 200 g of treated fiber ready for braiding, shipped to me for tactile review
• Technical report covering: methodology, test data (tensile strength, bending radius, elongation, moisture regain), microscopic images, and recommendations for production equipment
Acceptance criteria
• Minimum tenacity equal to or exceeding 3 g/d
• Can be braided, unbraided and re-braided three times without visible fray
• Remains flexible after 24 h immersion–dry cycle
• No detectable chemical residue; safe for direct scalp contact
I can supply raw fiber, baseline extraction details. Let me know your proposed timeline, the equipment you have on hand (e.g., tensile tester, SEM, FTIR, DSC), and any prior work with natural bast or leaf fibers. I am ready to start as soon as we agree on the experimental plan.
The process must rely on non-chemical routes. I am open to thermal or mechanical methods—steam conditioning, controlled heat-setting, micro-fibrillation, calendaring, stretching, twisting, anything that avoids added reagents yet still delivers the hand feel of premium kanekalon.
You will design and document the full protocol, run lab-scale trials, and validate the results with tensile, flexibility and abrasion testing. A short comparative assessment against common synthetic braiding fibers will round out the work, highlighting strengths, wear comfort and moisture behavior.
Deliverables
• Step-by-step treatment and conditioning procedure (lab scale, with notes on scale-up cues)
• 200 g of treated fiber ready for braiding, shipped to me for tactile review
• Technical report covering: methodology, test data (tensile strength, bending radius, elongation, moisture regain), microscopic images, and recommendations for production equipment
Acceptance criteria
• Minimum tenacity equal to or exceeding 3 g/d
• Can be braided, unbraided and re-braided three times without visible fray
• Remains flexible after 24 h immersion–dry cycle
• No detectable chemical residue; safe for direct scalp contact
I can supply raw fiber, baseline extraction details. Let me know your proposed timeline, the equipment you have on hand (e.g., tensile tester, SEM, FTIR, DSC), and any prior work with natural bast or leaf fibers. I am ready to start as soon as we agree on the experimental plan.