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ARS Home » Southeast Area » New Orleans, Louisiana » Southern Regional Research Center » Cotton Fiber Bioscience and Utilization Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #410990
Research Project: Innovative Approaches for Value Added Cotton-Containing Nonwovens

Location: Cotton Fiber Bioscience and Utilization Research

Title: Assessment of the Segal method for identifying crystallinity evolution in developing cotton fibers

Author
item Nam, Sunghyun
item Liu, Yongliang
item He, Zhongqi
item Hinchliffe, Doug
item Fang, David

Submitted to: Agricultural and Environmental Letters
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/16/2024
Publication Date: 6/16/2024
Citation: Nam, S., Liu, Y., He, Z., Hinchliffe, D.J., Fang, D. 2024. Assessment of the Segal method for identifying crystallinity evolution in developing cotton fibers. Agricultural and Environmental Letters. 9(1). Article e201138. https://doi.org/10.1002/ael2.20138.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ael2.20138

Interpretive Summary: The structure of cotton fiber is complex, consisting of a mixture of crystalline and amorphous phases. Due to the significance of the ratio of these phases to the properties of cotton fiber, the measurement of CIs is an important topic in cotton research. This study assessed the popular Segal method for identifying the crystallinity development in cotton fiber from 20 to 60 DPAs. The comparison of CIs between different methods revealed that the Segal method estimated higher CIs than other methods. The extent of this overestimation was greater for shorter DPAs, resulting in showing less dependence of crystallinity on DPA than other methods. Considering the range of increase in the crystal size of cellulose for developing cotton fibers studied, the effect of crystal size on their Segal CIs was considered to be insignificant.

Technical Abstract: The structure of cotton fiber is complex, consisting of a mixture of crystalline and amorphous phases. Due to the significance of the ratio of these phases to the properties of cotton fiber, the measurement of CIs is an important topic in cotton research. This study assessed the popular Segal method for identifying the crystallinity development in cotton fiber from 20 to 60 DPAs. The comparison of CIs between different methods revealed that the Segal method estimated higher CIs than other methods. The extent of this overestimation was greater for shorter DPAs, resulting in showing less dependence of crystallinity on DPA than other methods. Considering the range of increase in the crystal size of cellulose for developing cotton fibers studied, the effect of crystal size on their Segal CIs was considered to be insignificant.