Experiments with an Alkali Swelling-Centrifuge Test Applied to Cotton Fiber

Abstract

A quantitative technique has been developed in which a weighed sample of cotton fiber is swollen in sodium hydroxide, centrifuged to remove liquid from between the fibers, and re weighed to determine its percentage increase in weight, the latter quantity being designated here as the fiber's "alkali-centrifuge value." The results obtained have been found to be related to two types of causal factors—namely, (1) the prior action of deteriorative agencies on the fiber, apparently especially on the outer wall of the fiber, and (2) the wall thickness of the fiber (as reflected in arealometer air-flow measurements).

The fiber-deteriorative agencies which have been shown to bring about changes in the alkali-centrifuge value of cotton fiber include micro-organisms, certain enzymatically active filtrates from microbial growth media, sodium hypochlorite, hydrochloric acid, heat, and weathering. The microbial and enzymatic effects have been studied in more detail than the others.

The new test is simple, rapid, inexpensive, quite highly reproducible, involves only standard laboratory equipment, and is essentially free from safety hazards to the operator. Several aspects of the methodology of the test are reported.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bright, T.B. , Microscopical Examination of Damaged Cotton Hairs by the Congo-Red Test and the Swelling Test of Fleming and Thaysen, J. Textile Inst. 16, T396-404 (1926).

Calvert, M.A. , and Summers, F. , The Swelling of Raw Cotton Hairs During Mercerization Without Tension, J. Textile Inst. 16, T233-68 (1926).

Clegg, G.G. , Examination of Damaged Cotton by the Congo Red Test: Further Development and Applications, J. Textile Inst. 31, T49-68 (1940).

Clegg, G.G. , A Microscopical Examination of Worn Textile Articles, Shirley Inst. Mem. 23, 95-126 (1949).

Conrad, C.M. , Determination of Wax in Cotton Fiber: A New Alcohol Extraction Method, Ind. Eng. Chem., Anal. Ed. 16, 745 (1944).

Coward, H.R. , and Spencer, L. , The Absorption of Caustic Soda Solutions by Cotton, J. Textile Inst. 14, T32-45 (1923).

Hertel, K.L. , and Craven, C.J. , Cotton Fineness and Immaturity as Measured by the Arealometer, TEXTILE RESEARCH JOURNAL 21, 765-74 (1951).

Kerr, T. , The Outer Wall of the Cotton Fiber and Its Influence on Fiber Properties , TEXTILE RESEARCH JOURNAL, 16, 249-54 (1946).

Marsh, P.B. , and Bollenbacher, K. , The Fungi Concerned in Fiber Deterioration: I. Their Occurrence, TEXTILE RESEARCH JOURNAL 19, 313-24 (1949).

10.

Marsh, P.B. , Guthrie, L.R. , Bollenbacher , K. , and Harrell, D.C. , Observations on Microbiological Deterioration of Cotton Fiber During the Period of Boll Opening in 1949, Plant Disease Reptr. 34, 165-76 (1950).

11.

Marsh, P.B. , Guthrie, L.R. , and Butler, M.L. , The Influence of Weathering and of Micro-organisms on the Aqueous-extract pH of Cotton Fiber , TEXTILE RESEARCH JOURNAL 21, 565-79 (1951).

12.

Siu, R.G.H. , "Microbial Decomposition of Cellulose," New York , Reinhold Publishing Corp., 1951 .

13.

Thaysen, A.C. , and Bunker, H.J. , "The Microbiology of Cellulose, Hemicelluloses, Pectin, and Gums," London, Oxford University Press, 1927.

14.

Yelland, W.E.C. , "Degradation from Weathering of Tentage Fabrics," Textile Series Rept. No. 40, Washington, D. C., Office of The Quartermaster General, 1952.