Maize–Natural Fiber as Reinforcement with Polymers for Structural Applications - Natural Polymers, Biopolymers, Biomaterials, and Their Composites, Blends, and IPNs - page 39

in increasing the absorbency of the fibers. During, chemical treatment, the surface
morphology of natural fiber changes and also the crystalline structure of cellulose is
changed as shown in Figure 5.
Figure 4. Scanning electron micrographs of cross-sectional view of maize fiber.
Figure 5. Scanning electron micrograph of alkali treated maize fiber.