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Fabric science
Assignment -2
BATCH: BFT -1 SEMESTER
Title-testing of fibre maturity

INTRODUCTION
Maturity indicates ripeness or full development; immaturity
indicates lack of full development. Fibre maturity (in case of
Cotton Fibre) is a fibre characteristic which expresses the
relative degree of thickening of the fibre wall. Mature fibres are
characterised by fully developed secondary walls: the thicker
the wall, the more mature the fibre; the thinner the wall, the
more immature the fibre.

Incomplete wall thickening is due to poor growth conditions.

Immature fibres have thinner walls, their physical properties are
different, they are weaker and less stiff than mature fibres.
Immature fibre will have less deposition of cellulose inside the
fibre.

A cotton fibre consists of a cuticle, a primary layer and

secondary layers of cellulose surrounding the lumen or central
canal. In the case of mature fibres, the secondary thickening is
very high, and in some cases, the lumen is not visible. In the
case of immature fibres, the secondary thickening is practically
absent, leaving a wide lumen throughout the fibre. Hence
presence of excessive immature fibres in the sample would
indicate
some defect in the plant growth.
For research purposes wall thickness can be donated by
degree of thickening θ
cross−sectional area of fibre wall
θ=
area of of˚ same perimeter
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A completely solid fibre would have a degree of thickening of 1.

Mature fibres have an average value of around 0.6 and
immature fibres have an average value of between 0.2 and 0.3.

Immature fibre leads to:

1. Loss of yarn strength.
2. High production of short fibres.
3. Varying dye ability. Fine cotton tends to be lighter in shade than
the coarse cotton. If the walls are thinner then there will be
a greater possible number of reflecting surfaces per unit
mass of cellulose and consequently greater amount of light
emerging after passing only through only a small amount of
stained material.
4. Nepping

FACTORS UPON WHICH THE FIBRE

MATURITY DEPENDS:
1. Weather: If the weather doesn’t favour, the fibre gets less
chance to be matured.

2. Types of Soil: It is proved that, in some country the fibres

grow well and becomes well matured and on some other
country; due to the soil, fibres don’t be so much matured and
grows low quality fibres.

3. Plant Diseases: If proper care is not taken to the fibres, these

become less matured due to several diseases.

4.Pests: Some pests are good for Plants and some are bad. So
be careful to apply any pesticides on any plants.
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In order to assess the quality of cotton with respect to maturity

some method of measurement is required.

DIFFERENT METHODS OF TESTING MATURITY:

MATURITY RATIO: It concerns the development of the cell
wall. The fibres after being swollen with 18% caustic soda are
examined under the microscope with suitable magnification.
The fibres are classified into different maturity groups
depending upon the relative dimensions of wall-thickness and
lumen. The swollen fibres are classified into three groups as
follows:

1. Normal: rod like fibres with no convolution and no

continuous lumen are classed as "normal"
2. Dead: convoluted fibres with wall thickness one-fifth or
less of the maximum ribbon width
3. Thin-walled: The intermediate between two classes

A combined index known as maturity ratio is used to express

the results.

Maturity ratio = [(N - D)/200] + 0.7

where,
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N - % of Normal fibres
D - % of Dead fibres

AREALOMETER: It is a null air-flow instrument developed

by Craven and Hertel to measure the maturity of fibres. The
principle for Arealometer is to fix the resistance to air flow, to
which a fibre must be compressed in order it shall have that
resistance.

I¿ √ 0.07 D+1, where I is the immaturity ratio

MICRONAIRE USED IN
AREALOMETER
CAUSTICAIRE METOD

THE CAUSTICAIRE METHOD: The method involves the

use of Micronaire instrument. Theory of test is when the fibres
are treated with the caustic soda, the mature fibres swell more
than the immature fibres. Immaturity is determined by
comparison of the wall thickness with lumen diameter.

DYEING METHODS: Mature and immature fibres differ in

their behaviour towards various dyes. Based on this
observation, a differential dyeing technique was developed in
the United States of America for estimating the maturity of
cotton. In this technique, the sample is dyed in a bath
containing a mixture of two dyes, namely Diphenyl Fast Red 5
BL and Chlorantine Fast Green BLL. The mature fibres take up
the red dye preferentially, while the thin walled immature fibres
take up the green dye.
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THE USE OF POLARISED LIGHT: In this the ability of the

fibres to transmit light is measured. The immature fibres will
transmit the polarised light, and the lumen will appear of the
same colour as the background. The mature fibres do not
transmit light and will appear as complementary colour to the
background.

REFERENCES:
1. Handbook of textile testing and quality control by Elliot B.
Grover and D.S. Hampy

2. Physical testing of textiles B P Saville

3. Principle of textile testing by J.E. Booth