Journal of Minerals and Materials Characterization and Engineering, 2017, 5, 1-17 http://www.scirp.org/journal/jmmce ISSN Online: 2327-4085 ISSN Print: 2327-4077 DOI: 10.4236/jmmce.2017.51001 December 16, 2016 Re-Evaluation of Bovine Fiber Biomass as Exploitable Keratinous Bio-Resource for Biomedical and Industrial Applications Isiaka Oluwole Oladele 1,2* , Jimmy Lolu Olajide 1,3,4* , Oluyemi Ojo Daramola 1 , Kofi Bismarck Siaw 1 1 Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria 2 African Materials Science and Engineering Network (AMSEN) A Carnegie-IAS (RISE) Network (FUTA Node), Akure, Nigeria 3 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Elizade University, Ilara-Mokin, Nigeria 4 Division of Computational Materials Science and Prototype Engineering Development, Quantum Simutech Enterprise, Ilorin, Nigeria Abstract In claim of developing ecologically-friendly and low cost polymeric materials, some polymer scientists and engineers have focused on improving the proper- ties of polymer composites with natural fibers. One typical example of these natural fibers currently used as reinforcements in low load-bearing polymer composites is bovine fiber which is traditionally a waste from slaughterhouse. However, nature has designed natural fibers with anisotropic properties which may not augur well for the development of polymer composites with guaran- teed field-proven reliability. Nonetheless, unlike vegetal fibers, most animal fibers can be alternatively exploited for keratinous applications. In the present study, the tensile properties, crude protein contents and variations in elemen- tal distribution of hair fibers obtained from three breeds of bovine found in Nigeria were investigated. The hair fibers were characterized by ultimate test- ing machine, proximate analysis and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Superlative Young’s modulus and ten- sile strength among the fibers were found to be 0.98989 GPa and 0.56158 MPa, respectively. The determined crude protein contents of the fibers ranged between 35% and 40%. Also, single hair fibers from each bovine breed showed significant variations in elemental distribution along their longitudinal sec- tions which translates to anisotropic chemical and mechanical properties. However, the mean spectral values of the principal elements that constitute amino acids in the fibers are in the same range with that of human hair fibers with a successful record of keratinous applications. Keywords Biological Materials, Keratin Sources, Fiber Chemistry, Natural Fibers, Ecological Welfare How to cite this paper: Oladele, I.O., Ola- jide, J.L., Daramola, O.O. and Siaw, K.B. (2017) Re-Evaluation of Bovine Fiber Bio- mass as Exploitable Keratinous Bio-Re- source for Biomedical and Industrial Ap- plications. Journal of Minerals and Mate- rials Characterization and Engineering, 5, 1-17 http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jmmce.2017.51001 Received: November 13, 2016 Accepted: December 13, 2016 Published: December 16, 2016 Copyright © 2017 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Open Access