Hemp Fibre as a Textile Resource.

Northern Germany's mild winters and cool summers are better for cultivating hemp than flax. Hemp fits well into existing crop rotations. Achieving appropriate and reproducible fiber quality requires an exact understanding of hemp varieties, harvesting and crop collection techniques, and the dependence of the retting process upon the weath..

The Evaluation of Flax Genotypes Reaction on a High Heavy Metals Background as a First Stage of the Investigation on the Crops Recultivation Potential.

Land used for food production has become increasingly contaminated with heavy metals from industrial pollution, representing a risk not only to crops but to groundwater as well. One strategy used for soil remediation is growing nonfood crops on these lands, particularly plants that accumulate the heavy metals in their structure. Flax has ..

Thermally-Induced On-Stem Retting.

The Institute of Agricultural Engineering at the University of Kiel in Germany developed a heat treatment to induce on-stem retting for use in harvesting flax. Its objective is to increase the safety and decrease the costs of harvesting. The heat treatment involves the use of gas burners to apply thermal energy to the plants, dry the plan..

The Cotton Fiber Process and Fiber Characteristics.

Unique properties of cotton fiber include its absence of melting and glass transition temperatures, its ability to decompose in the presence of microorganisms, and its water vapor and water absorption properties. A mature cotton fiber structure consists of six parts: the cuticle, which is an outer waxy layer containing pectins and protein..

Experience in Linen Fibre Processing.

Due to the arrangement of the cellulose macromolecules in the fiber wall, flax is more difficult to spin than cotton. In addition, the lack of accepted quality standards is a problem when manufacturers purchase flax. The processes used to spin flax include the cotton spinning process with cottonized short staple scutched and hackled tow a..

Foreigm Fibre Detection and the Elucidation of Other Difficult-to-Determine Bale-Content Properties.

Rieter recently began distribution of the Jossy Company's Vision shield system for the detection, separation, and measurement of foreign material. The Vision Shield cleaning machine, installed after precleaning, prevents most of the separation triggered by trash particles. The system consists of 12 fluorescent tubes that illuminate the co..

Determination of Moulds on Cotton.

An examination of the mold contamination of raw cottons from several different sources identified 27 species (predominantly of the genera Aspergillus, Eurotium, Penicillium, and Rhizopus) and classified the molds according to their potential fiber degradation and health implications. Researchers developed a quantitative and qualitative sp..

What to Expect in New Fiber Quality Measurements.

An introduction to additional cotton fiber quality measurements that may come into general use in the near future addresses short fiber content, color grade, trash grade, nep content, stickiness, fiber elongation, and fiber maturity. Researchers are evaluating recently developed algorithms that use the characteristics of the length fibrog..

Naturally Colored Cottons -- Shade Changes upon Wet Treatments.

An experiment investigating the effect of conventional wet processes on shade changes in naturally colored cotton subjected Coyote, Buffalo, and Green naturally pigmented cotton yarns to caustic and enzymatic scouring, solvent extraction, mercerization, and cellulase enzyme treatments and evaluated changes in color shade using the CIEL *a..

Rayon Fibres.

Because rayon is manufactured from cellulose, which is an abundant resource, and can be manufactured with a range of mechanical properties, it remains competitive with such noncellulosic manmade fibers as nylon, polyester, and acrylic. Rayon manufacture involves the viscose process, which includes steeping, shredding, ageing, xanthation, ..