Cotton Fiber Quality Characterization with Light Scattering and Fourier Transform Infrared Techniques

Abstract

Fiber quality measurement is critical to assessing the value of a bale of cotton for various textile purposes. An instrument that could measure numerous cotton quality properties by optical means could be made simpler and faster than current fiber quality measurement instruments, and it might be more amenable to on-line measurement at processing facilities. To that end, a laser system was used to investigate cotton fiber samples with respect to electromagnetic scattering at various wavelengths, polarization angles, and scattering angles. A Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) instrument was also used to investigate the transmission of electromagnetic energy at various mid-infrared wavelengths. Cotton samples were selected to represent a wide range of micronaire values. Varying the wavelength of the laser at a fixed polarization resulted in little variation in scattered light among the cotton samples. However, varying the polarization at a fixed wavelength produced notable variation, indicating that polarization might be used to differentiate among cotton samples with respect to certain fiber properties. The FT-IR data in the 12 to 22 microm range produced relatively large differences in the amount of scattered light among all samples, and FT-IR data at certain combinations of fixed wavelengths were highly linearly related to certain measures of cotton quality including micronaire.

The Effects of Fruiting Positions on Cellulose Synthesis and Sucrose Metabolism during Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) Fiber Development

“…The effect of the growth environment on the genetic potential of a genotype modulates fiber properties to varying degrees [8] [9] [10] . For example, application of water or fertilizer and the inevitable seasonal shifts such as temperature, day length, and insolation all could realize the changes of genetic potential [11] [12] [13] [14] . Previous documents on fiber qualities under environmental factors were mainly concentrated on the adaxial fruiting positions (e.g.…”

Kinetics of Cellulose Deposition in Developing Cotton Fibers Studied by Thermogravimetric Analysis

“…By extending the study beyond 24 dpa, the maturation process of the developing cotton fibers was studied as well. Thus, fibers were harvested at 10,14,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,27,30,36,46, and 56 dpa. Figure S1 shows the list of samples.…”

“…Since SCW in cotton is one of the purest forms of cellulose in nature, its development can be studied by techniques commonly used to study other polymers, such as Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy [17,18]. In a previous study, we used several techniques to investigate cellulose deposition in developing cotton fibers.…”

Propagation of polarized light through textile material

“…Light scattering and propagation in textile material, e.g., transflectance, single scattering, and backscattering, have been employed experimentally on mass measurement [1], quality examination [2,3], area density determination [4], and structural analysis [5]. In the abovementioned applications, light scattering and propagation in textile material are favorable; they are unfavorable to our study on the detection of impurities hidden in textile material (such as cotton fiber assemblies) with polarized incident light.…”