Cotton fiber strength measurement and its relation to structural markers from Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic characterization

Authors: Liu, Yongliang

Submitted to: Textile
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/16/2024
Publication Date: 3/19/2024
Citation: Liu, Y. 2024. Cotton fiber strength measurement and its relation to structural markers from Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic characterization. Textiles. 4(1):126-137. https://doi.org/10.3390/textiles4010009.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/textiles4010009

Interpretive Summary: Fundamental understanding of the relationship between cotton fiber strength (or tenacity) / elongation and structure is important, as cotton breeders could modify their cultivars for enhancing end-use qualities. In this study, the Stelometer instrument was employed to measure bundle fiber tenacity and elongation properties while high volume instrument (HVI) system was used to determine fiber strength and micronaire. Fiber infrared maturity and crystallinity were characterized by the ATR FT-IR protocol that has the micro-sampling capability and is suitable for tiny Stelometer breakage specimens (2~5 mg), which could not be analyzed by traditional XRD pattern. Although fibers from each Upland cultivar showed non-significant increase or decrease in HVI strength with Stelometer tenacity, but combined six Upland cultivars revealed a moderate but significant increase in HVI strength with Stelometer tenacity. For combined Upland cultivars, infrared maturity was related significantly to HVI micronaire and HVI strength rather than to Stelometer tenacity and Stelometer elongation, while infrared crystallinity was linked significantly with HVI micronaire and Stelometer tenacity instead of with HVI strength or Stelometer elongation. Furthermore, individual sets of Upland fibers and Pima fibers were examined and their ith Stelometer tenacity, but combined six Upland cultivars revealed a moderate but significant increase in HVI strength with Stelometer tenacity. For combined Upland cultivars, infrared maturity was related significantly to HVI micronaire and HVI strength rather than to Stelometer tenacity and Stelometer elongation, while infrared crystallinity was linked significantly with HVI micronaire and Stelometer tenacity instead of with HVI strength or Stelometer elongation. Furthermore, individual sets of Upland fibers and Pima fibers were examined and their responses to both infrared maturity and crystallinity index were compared and discussed.

Technical Abstract: There has been an interest in understanding the relationship between cotton fiber strength (or tenacity) and structure for better fiber quality measurement and enhancement. Coupled Stelometer and high volume instrument (HVI) measurements with attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy method, this study related fiber strength and associated properties (Stelometer elongation and HVI micronaire) with structural markers (infrared maturity and crystallinity) on 6 Upland (as A, B, C, D , E and F) and 1 Pima cultivars. Although Stelometer tenacity agreed with HVI strength in general, the Upland D cultivar (immature) was observed to show the lowest HVI strength value while the Upland F cultivar (larger infrared crystallinity index) to show the smallest Stelometer tenacity value. A few strong and significant correlations were noted, for example, between infrared crystallinity and Stelometer elongation for the Upland A fibers, between infrared maturity and Stelometer tenacity for the Upland C fibers, between infrared maturity and HVI strength for the Upland D fibers. Furthermore, there were apparent distinctions in regressions and statistics of examined correlations between each Upland cultivar and their combined fiber set, addressing the challenge of understanding the unique response between fiber physical and structural markers from different measurements even within one cotton cultivar.