Section 3

Cotton - flax
 Natural fibers of vegetable
origins:
• The natural fibers that fall in the category of vegetables are majority
composed of cellulose .

• This element is made of sugars and starch that is generated by the

plant with the help of water and carbon di oxide, riveted through its
leaves.

• Fibers in form of bundles are held together with the help of natural
resins and gums that are present in different parts of plants like
leaves, stem etc.
 Seed fibers Cotton seed
hair bolls

1- Introduction:

• The most important and widely produced plant fiber is

cotton fiber.
• Cotton fiber grows in the seed hair bolls of cotton
plants.
• Grown and cultivated in climates like U.S.A, China,
Australia , Egypt, Pakistan and India.

• Cotton fibers are hairs on the seeds of the order

Malvales plant, malvaceae family, and Gossypium.
 • Cotton fiber has four main species; hirsutum, barbadense,
arboreum and herbaceum.

• these four species contain many different varieties developed

through breeding programs to form cottons with enhanced
properties like fiber exhibiting greater length , strength , uniformity ,
rapid maturing, increased yields, and high resistance to insects and
diseases.

are different in fiber properties like:

 When cotton plant’s boll open, the water content present in it evaporates from cotton
fibers.
 Before moisture evaporated fibers are circular in cross-section have tube like
appearance.
 When moisture evaporated from the fibers, they get dried and cell wall collapse. It gets
a ribbon like structure.
 immature cotton fibers have partially developed primary wall, and the mature cotton fibers have fully developed
primary wall.
 The immature cotton fibers can bend and tangle more easily, so these fibers are the cause of entanglements
called neps.
 These neps effect the appearance of fabric after dyeing. And appeared as undyed spots.
2- cotton structure:
The cotton fiber is single cell that has collapsed into
a ribbon like structure of cellulose as it dried out.
• The matured fiber can also be recognised by the convolutions.
which are important characteristic of cotton.

• Cotton from different variety has different number of

convolutions in it .
• In 25 mm of cotton fiber, the island cotton have 300
convolutions, Indian 150.
Longitudinal
3- classification of cotton fiber with respect to
staple length :

• The staple length of cotton fiber is a significant factor for defining the
overall quality of cotton fibers and it has a major impact on the end
application of cotton fiber.
4- saw ginning process:

In this cotton ginning process, the cotton

fibers are removed from the seeds by
passing them through a series of circular
saws.

 The ginning process includes saw toothed

roller and the narrow slits.
 Seeds have bigger size, so unable to pass
through slits and detached from fibers.
 The detached longer fibers from this process
are known as lint.
 Shorter fibers are still attached to the fibers,
which are detached by another gin.
 Shorter fiber known as linters, used as raw
material for the manufacturing of regenerated
cellulosic fibers ang have applications as
filters of pillows, blankets, upholstery, etc. .
  Bast fibers (flax)
1- introduction:

• Flax claimed to be the first fiber used for making textile, which is
commonly known as linen.

• Linen mummy – cloth used about 4,500 years ago.

2- The plant of flax:
• The flax plant develops to a heigh ranging from 0.5 meter to 1.25 meters with a
stalk diameter of 1. mm – 3.2 mm.
• Seeds are enclosed in small spherical balls, at the top of the stalks.
Production Processing of Flax Fiber :
1.Cultivation
2. Harvesting
3. Rippling
4- Retting :
• also called as fermentation process.
• is of Vital importance for the extraction of fiber from stem.
A- Dam retting :
The flax bundles are immersed into dams or ponds for about 10 days. This method is no longer practiced except

Egypt .
B- Dew retting
• In this process flax bundle are
spread out grass and allowed
to ferment.
• It is commonly used in
regions where water is in
short supply. i.e. U.S., S.R.
and Europe.
• The advantage of dew retting
that it is less expensive.
• Dew retting tends to yield
dark colored fibers.
C- Tank retting:

A (inlet) , b( water), c (Bundles of flax)

D- Chemical retting
5. Breaking and scutching:
• The retted stem is dried completely, the
process of drying makes the breaking and
scutching.
• This process makes it easier to remove the
woody matter from the fibers.
• In breaking process the dried woody matter is
crushed off and separated from fibrous
material.

breaking
 6. Hackling

• the process of separating the longer

fiber of flax from the shorter tow fibers.

• The fibers are drawn through sets of pins, each successive set
being fine than the previous one, this helps in gentle removal
of shorter fiber without damaging the longer fibers.