Much processing of
cotton fibrous materials involves heat treatments.
Despite their critical influence on the properties, the structural
responses of cotton fiber to elevated temperatures remain uncertain.
This study demonstrated that modeling the temperature dependence of
the fiber tenacity distribution was a new approach to uncovering the
details of the thermally induced structural transitions of cotton
fiber at low and intermediate temperatures. As the temperature increased,
the tenacity probability density developed a unique patternperiodic
evolution/degeneration of bimodalitywhich was successfully
parametrized by the mixed Weibull model. Interpretation of the variation
of the model’s five parameters indicates that cotton fiber
underwent the following sequence of transitions: glass transition
at 160–220 °C, dehydration at 240–260 °C,
and chain scission at 280–300 °C. The crystallographic
and thermogravimetric analyses showed the coexistence of thermal crystallization
at 180–360 °C. The decomposition of the crystalline cellulose
was predominant along the fiber axis, preserving the lateral crystalline
structure in the remains even after a 90% weight loss.
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