Alkali treatment is one of the treatments that widely used in natural fiber surface treatment process. However, the different in treatment condition setting produce variability in fiber properties characteristic. This study aims to determine the impact of alkali treatment conditions on kenaf bast fiber tensile strength. Three parameters at two levels were selected during alkali treatment process. They are kenaf fiber immersion duration (at 30 minute and 480 minute); alkali solution temperature at room temperature (26 ± 1^oC) and 100^oC; and alkali concentration (at 2% w/v and 10% w/v). Untreated kenaf fiber was used as control unit and the tensile test was prepared according to ASTM C1557-03. Cross sectional area was measured using Leica video analyzer. The results showed that alkali treatment conditions do have an impact on tensile strength of kenaf bast fiber. The immersion time appears to be most dominant factor that influences the kenaf fiber tensile strength mean value during alkali treatment process with -108.82 magnitudes and followed by immersion time. Additionally, temperature factor was found to have a small impact on fiber tensile strength mean value changes. From analysis of variance results, the interaction effect between the factors during alkali treatment process was not statistically significant.

Alkali treatment is one of the treatments that widely used in natural fiber surface treatment process. However, the different in treatment condition setting produce variability in fiber properties characteristic. This study aims to determine the impact of alkali treatment conditions on kenaf bast fiber tensile strength. Three parameters at two levels were selected during alkali treatment process. They are kenaf fiber immersion duration (at 30 minute and 480 minute); alkali solution temperature at room temperature (26 ± 1^oC) and 100^oC; and alkali concentration (at 2% w/v and 10% w/v). Untreated kenaf fiber was used as control unit and the tensile test was prepared according to ASTM C1557-03. Cross sectional area was measured using Leica video analyzer. The results showed that alkali treatment conditions do have an impact on tensile strength of kenaf bast fiber. The immersion time appears to be most dominant factor that influences the kenaf fiber tensile strength mean value during alkali treatment process with -108.82 magnitudes and followed by immersion time. Additionally, temperature factor was found to have a small impact on fiber tensile strength mean value changes. From analysis of variance results, the interaction effect between the factors during alkali treatment process was not statistically significant.